GIFT   OF 
EVGENE  MEYER,  Jit 


Abraham  Lincoln 

From  negative  No.  2  of  the  Hesler  photograph  made 
at  Chicago  in  1860. 

There  were  four  negatives  made  by  Hesler  in  Chicago 
in  June,  1860,  soon  after  Lincoln  was  nominated 
for  the  presidency.  Numbers  three  and  four 
were  burnt  in  the  Chicago  fire.  Number  two, 
herewith  shown,  is  the  most  perfect  of  any  photo 
graphic  representation  of  Lincoln,  and  more 
satisfactory,  to  those  who  knew  him  intimately 
previous  to  1861,  than  any  other  photograph 
ever  made  of  him. 


The  Lincoln  Memorial,  Washington,  D.  C, 
Designed  by  Henry  Bacon. 


Xiniroln 


v^r*--  -*"*•  <""*•  !r~"' 


QTlue 

3ftrsi  American 


Personal    Recollections    of 

Abraham   Lincoln 

By 

Henry   B.  Rankin 

With  an  Introduction  by 
Joseph   Fort   Newton 

Author  of  "  Lincoln  and  Herndon,"  etc. 


Youth  longs  and  manhood  strives, 
But  age  remembers. 

HOLMES  :    The  Iron  Gate 


With  Portraits  in  Photogravure 


G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 

New  York  and   London 
Hmfcfcerbocfcet    press 
1916 


COPYRIGHT.  1916 

BY 
HENRY    B.  RANKIN 


Ube  Iknickerbockcr  press,  flAcw  12orfc 


Introduction 


340130 


He  knew  to  bide  his  time, 

And  can  his  fame  abide, 

Still  patient  in  his  faith  sublime, 

Till  the  wise  years  decide. 
Great  captains  with  their  guns  and  drums, 
Disturb  our  judgment  of  the  hour, 
But  at  last  Silence  comes; 
These  are  all  gone,  and,  standing  like  a  tower, 
Our  children  shall  behold  his  fame, 
The  kindly-earnest,  brave,  foreseeing  man, 
Sagacious,  patient,  dreading  praise,  not  blame, 
New  birth  of  our  new  soil,  the  first  American. 

JAMES  RUSSELL  LOWELL. 


IV 


INTRODUCTION 

LINCOLN  lore  has  become  so  rich  in  recent  years, 
and  so  voluminous  withal,  that  he  who  would 
add  to  it  must  needs  show  cause  why  his  book 
should  be  read.  And  yet,  in  spite  of  all  that  has 
been  written,  it  cannot  be  said  that  we  yet  have 
a  thoroughly  satisfactory  interpretation  of  the 
life  and  work  and  character  of  our  First  American. 
A  few  have  had  the  necessary  knowledge  and 
sympathy,  but  their  literary  power  has  not  always 
been  adequate.  Others  have  written  well,  but 
they  have  failed  of  insight  and  understanding. 
In  the  meantime  the  volume  of  facts,  impressions, 
and  reminiscences  increases,  and  by  assembling 
items  from  a  variety  of  sources  we  are  coming  to 
a  composite  conception  of  our  prophet-President 
that  is  at  once  vivid  and  satisfying. 

The  present  volume  unites  an  intimate  know 
ledge  combined  with  unusual  gifts  of  insight  and 
expression,  and  is  more  than  justified,  not  only 
by  the  facts  which  it  adds  to  our  information, 


vi  Introduction 

but  also,  and  much  more  perhaps,  by  its  por 
trayal  of  the  background  of  the  life  of  Lincoln, 
the  atmosphere  and  environment  of  his  early 
years,  and  the  development  of  his  unique  person 
ality  and  genius.  It  is  exactly  what  its  title 
describes,  not  a  biography,  still  less  a  history, 
but  a  book  of  reminiscences;  a  series  of  musing 
memories  and  flash-light  pictures,  often  discursive 
but  always  illuminating,  recorded  by  a  man  who, 
in  the  gloaming  of  his  years,  would  fain  add  a 
touch  to  the  portrait  of  a  great  Soul  whom  he 
revered  in  youth  and  whose  memory  is  a  precious 
possession.  If  time  has  softened  the  outlines  of 
the  scenes  of  other  years,  it  has  also  brought  that 
deeper  interpretation  which  is  a  reward  of  the 
"on-coming  evening  and  the  star-crowned  night." 
For  this  service  the  author  was  singularly 
fitted,  both  by  opportunity  and  by  temperament. 
He  was  one  of  the  "Lincoln  boys"  who  grew  up 
in  the  valley  of  the  Sangamon,  before  the  sturdy 
race  of  pioneers  had  disappeared,  and  his  pictures 
of  that  now  vanished  time  help  us  to  see  Lincoln 
in  the  setting  of  his  life,  amidst  the  scenery  which 
wrought  itself  into  his  mind,  and  the  hardy, 
wholesome,  self-reliant  folk  who  left  their  impress 
upon  his  character  and  his  career.  So  studied, 
he  is  seen  as  indeed  a  "new  birth  of  our  new  soil, " 


Introduction  vii 

typical  of  the  best  life  of  the  older  West ;  one  of  the 
common  people,  yet  towering  above  them  in  his 
unconscious  greatness — the  son  of  a  pioneer  whose 
story  is  the  history  of  his  nation  in  its  heroic 
epoch.  Lincoln  is  hard  to  know  in  any  event, 
the  despair  of  every  artist  because  he  was  so 
unlike  any  model;  nor  can  we  know  him  at  all 
unless  we  see  him  amid  the  scenes  which  these 
pages  paint  with  such  vivid  stroke,  reproducing 
the  very  atmosphere  which  surrounded  his  early 
manhood. 

Moreover,  the  author  was  for  several  years  a 
student  in  the  Lincoln  and  Herndon  law-office, 
where  he  enjoyed  the  intimate  fellowship  of  two 
strong  men  who  were  by  nature  as  well  as  by 
political  habit  gracious  to  young  men  and  who 
were  at  once  his  teachers  and  his  friends.  Natu 
rally,  a  lad  fresh  from  college  would  be  a  keen 
observer  of  the  student-life  of  the  two  men  with 
whose  ideals  he  was  in  sympathy,  and  he  took 
careful  note  of  their  methods  of  work  and  processes 
of  thought.  He  found  the  deep  and  quiet  mind 
of  Lincoln  contrasting  vividly  with  the  swift  and 
facile  intellect  of  his  partner  whose  conversation 
was  so  picturesque  and  many-coloured.  Lincoln 
was  a  man  to  know  whom  was  a  kind  of  religion, 
and  it  is  not  strange  that  his  nobility  of  character, 


viii  Introduction 

his  force  of  intellect,  his  innate  digifity  and  fineness 
of  nature,  his  humour  and  his  sadness,  and  even 
his  moods  and  habits  of  life,  left  a  profound 
impression  upon  his  young  student.  If,  in  record 
ing  his  memories,  the  art  of  the  author  does  not 
equal  his  opportunity,  it  is  because  there  was 
something  in  Lincoln  which  no  art  may  ever 
hope  to  capture;  a  blend  of  power  and  pathos,  of 
dignity  and  simplicity,  of  love  and  logic  and 
laughter,  with  much  else  which  all  men  feel  but 
which  no  one  can  describe.  A  man  of  exquisite 
spirituality,  he  brings  to  his  pages  a  keen,  dis 
criminating  insight,  joined  with  a  great  venera 
tion,  and  his  vision  will  have  to  be  reckoned 
with  in  the  final  account  of  a  life  which,  were  it 
not  a  matter  of  history,  would  be  regarded  as  one 
of  the  great  romances  of  the  world. 

About  such  a  man  there  is  a  certain  mystery, 
a  strange,  pervasive  appeal  to  all  that  is  native 
and  noble  within  us,  a  sanctity  half  tragic  and  half 
triumphant;  and  it  is  no  wonder  that  to  a  man 
who  felt  the  spell  of  his  personality,  and  saw  him 
in  his  great  hours  of  vision  and  conquest,  all 
portraits  of  Lincoln  are  unsatisfactory.  Albeit 
his  pictures  show  us  a  face  marked  with  the  seams 
of  hard  struggle,  the  light  of  a  high  resolve,  the 
touch  of  an  infinite  pity;  its  features  written  all 


Introduction  ix 

over  with  the  hieroglyphics  of  sorrow,  yet  having 
lines  where  smiles  fell  asleep  when  they  were 
weary;  neither  rudely  masculine  nor  softly  femi 
nine,  but  which  reminds  us  always  of  the  mother 
and  the  boy  behind  the  man.  Whoso  will  study 
that  face,  in  the  light  of  the  following  pages,  will 
learn  not  only  what  America  is,  what  it  has  cost, 
and  what  it  prophesies;  but  something  of  what 
life  means,  of  what  lies  hidden  in  the  souls  of  the 
lowliest — aye,  something  of  the  cost  of  all  progress 
and  the  majesty  of  noble  human  living. 

With  due  regard  for  the  humour  of  Lincoln, 
so  rich  and  often  so  rollicking,  and  in  no  wise 
forgetful  of  the  refinements  of  his  sympathies,  the 
author  makes  us  feel  that  he  was,  first  of  all,  a 
great  thinker.  Pledged  as  he  felt  himself  to  be 
to  the  moral  verities,  his  mind  was  as  relentless 
in  its  search  for  truth  as  his  heart  was  limitless 
in  its  charity.  Into  the  hard  problems  of  his  day 
he  drilled  with  patient,  pondering,  penetrating 
thought,  and  not  in  vain,  though  his  ultimate 
solution  was  altered  by  events.  His  deep  musings 
on  the  ways  of  God,  on  the  souls  of  men,  on  the 
principles  of  justice  and  the  laws  of  liberty,  bore 
fruit  in  exalted  character  and  exact  insight.  Hence 
a  style  of  speech  remarkable  for  its  lucidity, 
directness,  and  forthright  power,  with  no  waste 


x  Introduction 

of  words,  tinged  always  by  a  temperament  at 
once  elusive  and  alluring,  which  Bryce  compares 
to  the  forthdarting  speech  of  Bismarck  without 
his  harshness,  and  to  the  weighty  eloquence  of 
Cromwell  without  his  haziness.  The  scene  of  the 
speech  at  Petersburg  in  1856,  here  rescued  from 
oblivion,  is  an  example  alike  of  his  power  of  words 
and  his  mastery  of  assemblies.  No  voice  speaking 
in  the  last  century  uttered  words  so  much  like 
the  mighty  words  that  speak  to  us  out  of  the  old 
Hebrew  centuries,  and  which  still  march  to  and 
fro  in  the  hearts  of  men. 

All  just  men,  all  chivalrous  men,  will  be  deeply 
grateful  to  the  writer  of  these  reminiscences  for 
the  gracious  and  revealing  light  in  which  he  has 
portrayed  Mary  Todd  Lincoln,  so  long  misunder 
stood,  so  often  misrepresented.  If  she  was  not  a 
favourite  as  "the  first  lady  of  the  land" — lacking 
that  indefinable  quality  which  in  her  husband  so 
appealed  to  the  popular  imagination — surely  that 
was  no  reason  why  her  less  fortunate  traits  should 
be  magnified  to  the  neglect  of  others  not  only 
more  numerous,  but  lovely  and  winning.  There  is 
nothing  in  our  history  more  unmanly,  more  cruel, 
more  devoid  of  every  fine  instinct,  than  the 
treatment  of  that  noble  woman  by  a  prying, 


Introduction  xi 

gossiping  press,  which  pursued  her  even  into  her 
lonesome  late  years.  Here  at  last  is  the  testimony 
of  one  who  knew  her,  bearing  witness  to  her 
worth  as  a  woman,  her  loyalty  as  a  wife,  and 
her  service  to  her  country,  and  bespeaking  for  her 
— what  will  not  always  be  denied — a  place  be 
side  her  husband  in  the  grateful  and  venerative 
memory  of  the  Republic. 

Hardly  less  valuable  is  the  study  of  what  re 
ligion  meant  to  Lincoln,  about  which  so  much 
has  been  written  and  so  little  truth  told.  No 
page  in  this  book  of  memories  is  more  unforgetable 
than  that  on  which  the  author  tells,  with  such 
delicate  taste  and  tenderness,  of  a  quiet  talk 
between  his  mother  and  Lincoln  regarding  religion 
during  the  campaign  of  1847.  It  brings  back 
across  the  years  not  only  the  atmosphere  of  the 
evening,  and  the  pensive,  half-sad  mood  of  the 
man,  but  something  of  the  spirit  of  the  sweet 
woman  to  whom  he  confided  his  perplexities  of 
faith.  That  statement,  so  Lincoln-like  in  its 
spirit  and  style,  is  the  absolute  truth  as  to 
his  actual  attitude  toward  the  difficulties  which 
beset  every  thinking  man.  Whatever  he  may 
have  lacked  of  the  letter  which  killeth,  surely, 
if  ever  of  anyone,  we  may  say  of  Lincoln  that  he 


xii  Introduction 

was  ruled  by  the  spirit  of  the  Master,  whose  he 
was,  and  whom  he  served,  equally  in  private  life 
and  public  office. 

No  further  word  need  be  added  to  a  book  which 
speaks  so  well  for  itself,  except  to  say  that  its  total 
impression  is  such  a  sense  of  the  living  Lincoln, 
of  his  growth  and  ripening  of  character,  of  his 
commanding  personality  and  genius,  as  is  to  be 
found  hardly  anywhere  else.  As  one  of  the  few 
remaining  friends  who  knew  him  personally  during 
the  early  years  of  his  mature  manhood,  the  author 
has  rendered  a  real  service  not  only  to  Lincoln, 
but  to  the  city  in  which  he  lived ;  and  his  example 
should  bestir  the  citizens  of  Springfield  to  be 
faithful  and  care-taking  guardians  of  every  place 
associated  with  the  memory  of  the  greatest  man 
who  has  lived  with  us  and  died  among  us,  whose 
life  is  a  perpetual  legacy  of  inspiration,  and  whose 
character  embodied,  as  no  other  in  our  history, 
the  mighty  and  tender  spirit  of  America. 


JOSEPH  FORT  NEWTON. 


CEDAR  RAPIDS,  IOWA, 
January,  1916. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

INTRODUCTION.    JOSEPH  FORT  NEWTON          .         v 
I. — PERSONAL  MENTION  ...         3 

II. — LINCOLN'S     EASY     AND     FRIENDLY 

MANNER       .         .         .         .         .17 

III. — LINCOLN'S   MENTAL   RESOURCES  AND 

PECULIAR  CONSCIOUSNESS    .  .       27 

IV. — WHEN  LINCOLN  SWAPPED  HORSES       .       37 
V. — THE  BOWLING  GREEN  HOME      .         .       49 

VI. — ANN    RUTLEDGE    IN    THE    LlFE    OF 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  61 

VII. — LINCOLN'S    FIRST    LAW    PARTNERS: 

STUART  AND  LOGAN        ...       99 

VIII. — WILLIAM    H.    HERNDON:    THE    LAST 

LAW  PARTNER       .         .         .         .     1 1 1 

IX. — THE    SPRINGFIELD    LIFE    OF    MARY 

TODD  LINCOLN       .         .         .         .157 

X. — ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AS  SEEN  IN  Two 

SPEECHES  FIFTY  YEARS  AGO  .         .     205 

XI. — THE     SECOND     SPEECH:    FAREWELL 

ADDRESS,  FEBRUARY  n,   1861        .     219 

xiii 


xiv  Contents 

PAGE 

4) 

XII. — BETWEEN    THE    Two    SPEECHES    OF 

NATIONAL  IMPORTANCE  .         .         .     233 

XIII. — THE  COOPER  INSTITUTE  SPEECH          .     243 

XIV. — WHAT  RELIGION  MEANT  TO  ABRAHAM 

LINCOLN       .         .         .         .         .267 

XV. — THE    REAL    LINCOLN    IN    PORTRAITS 

AND  PHOTOGRAPHS          .         .         .331 

XVI. — THE  LINCOLN  LIFE-MASK  .         .         .     353 

XVII. — CHARACTERISTIC  MOODS  OF  ABRAHAM 

LINCOLN 381 

XVIII. — ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S     POSITION     IN 

HISTORY 391 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  .        .        .  Frontispiece 

From  negative  No.  2  of  the  Hesler  photograph  made 
at  Chicago  in  1860. 

There  were  four  negatives  made  by  Hesler  in 
Chicago  in  June,  1860,  soon  after  Lincoln  was 
nominated  for  the  presidency.  Numbers  three 
and  four  were  burnt  in  the  Chicago  fire.  Num 
ber  two,  herewith  shown,  is  the  most  perfect  of 
any  photographic  representation  of  Lincoln,  and 
more  satisfactory,  to  those  who  knew  him  intimately 
previous  to  1861,  than  any  other  photograph  ever 
made  of  him. 

THE  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL,  WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 

Designed  by  Henry  Bacon. 

Illustrated  title-page 

HENRY  B.  RANKIN xviii 

From  photograph  by  Victor  Georg,  March,  1916. 

AUTOGRAPH  AND  SENTIMENT  BY  LINCOLN  IN 
AUTOGRAPHIC  ALBUM  OF  HENRY  B.  RANKIN, 
WRITTEN  FEBRUARY  23,  1858  .  .  .133 

AUTOGRAPH  AND  SENTIMENT  BY  HERNDON  IN 
AUTOGRAPHIC  ALBUM  OF  HENRY  B.  RANKIN, 
WRITTEN  FEBRUARY  23,  1858  .  .  .  133 

XV 


xvi  Illustrations 

PAGE 

MRS.  MARY  TODD  LINCOLN       %        .        ,        .154 

From  an  engraving  by  Sartain,  with  her  signatures 
written  in  1861  and  1871. 

LIFE  MASK  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  MADE  BY 
LEONARD  W.  VOLK  IN  1860  AT  CHICAGO. 
THREE  QUARTERS  VIEW  ....  350 

LIFE  MASK  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  MADE  BY 
LEONARD  W.  VOLK  IN  1860  AT  CHICAGO. 
SIDE  VIEW  350 

Two  photographs,  under  different  view-points,  of  the 
Lincoln  mask  are  here  shown.  A  direct  front- view 
photograph  of  Volk's  life  mask  of  Lincoln  flattens 
and  shortens,  distorts  or  obscures,  some  of 
Lincoln's  most  prominent  and  striking  features, 
viz.  his  chin,  nose,  cheek  bones,  and  some  deeply 
creased  wrinkles, — all  of  them  so  marked  and  ex 
pressively  a  part  of  the  Lincolnian  face  to  those 
who  knew  him,  or  to  the  artists  wishing  truthfully 
to  represent  his  personality  on  canvas  or  statue. 
A  close  comparison  of  these  two  views  of  the  life 
mask  with  the  two  Hesler  photographs  gives  us  a 
presentment  of  the  Lincoln  face  as  it  was  in  1 860 
as  perfect  as  photographic  art  and  a  life  mask, 
unitedly,  could  preserve. 


Q 


XVI 

MARY 


.        OLK    IX     ifr.. 

EVIEW          •  ,      350 

photographs,  under 
Lincoln  mask  are  1. 
photograph  of  Volk's  '; 
and    shortens,     distort^    < 

Lincoln's  most  prorr.r  t  -es, 

z.  his  chiriHeary  B.  Rankin  B  me  deeply 
creased  wrinkk  s  -—,  ;  ..  ..]  c-x-     , 

^^graph  by  Victpi  Georg,  Marc^|9i6. 

who  knew  him,  or  U>  the  artists  wishing  truthfully 

to  represent  his  ,  tue. 

A  close  coin  par;  s-.'  o{  t.};csi;  {V,v.>  virws  or 

mask  with  the  two  1  ?o.*Si-.r  {.  liou^raphs  >;^  •  '/s  ii«  a 

presentment  of  th-:  i.  iiv.-oln  fac?  -<s  it  wa.*- 

as  perfect  a-.;  ph.  art  arad   ,     -     'xjiak, 

unitedly,  could  pn 


ff 


Personal  Mention 


O  Captain!    My  Captain!    Rise  up  and  hear  the 

bells; 
Rise  up— for  you  the  flag  is  flung— for  you  the  bugle 

trills; 
For  you  bouquets  and  ribbon'd  wreaths— for  you  the 

shores  a-crowding; 
For  you  they  call,  the  swaying  mass,  their  eager 

faces  turning; 

Hear,  Captain!  dear  Father! 
This  arm  beneath  your  head ; 

It  is  some  dream  that  on  the  deck 
You've  fallen  cold  and  dead. 

WALT  WHITMAN, 


Personal  Recollections  of 
Abraham  Lincoln 


PERSONAL  MENTION 

Some  Local  Mention 

I  MET  Abraham  Lincoln  for  the  first  time  in  the 
Menard  County  Circuit  Court,  at  Petersburg, 
Illinois.  By  favour  of  my  father,  who  was  then 
sheriff  of  Menard  County,  I  was  allowed  for 
several  years  to  stop  school  during  court  term  and 
act  as  messenger  boy  in  the  court  room  during 
the  court's  sessions. 

Thenceforward,  for  more  than  a  dozen  years,  I 
met  Lincoln  often.  During  the  four  years  pre 
ceding  his  election  to  the  Presidency  I  had  close 
relations  with  the  law-office  of  Lincoln  and 
Herndon  in  connection  with  some  of  their  legal, 

political,   and   literary   activities.     Now  in   my 

3 


4  Abraham  Lincoln 

seventy-ninth  year  I  recall  th6se  events  with  no 
little  degree  of  personal  pleasure.  Out  of  my 
memories  I  have  been  urged  to  write  concerning 
some  of  Lincoln's  characteristics;  of  persons  with 
whom  he  associated ;  and  of  incidents  and  scenes  of 
his  life  up  to  the  time  when  he  left  Springfield 
for  Washington  to  occupy  so  prominent  a  part  in 
the  making  of  our  Nation's  history,  and  to  achieve 
for  all  future  ages  a  world-wide  and  abiding  fame 
as  the  most  masterful  of  men. 

Recollections  of  events  and  personal  affairs 
after  half  a  century,  though  drawn  from  the  most 
sensitive  memory,  and  most  conscientiously  re 
corded,  cannot  but  be  fragmentary.  We  cannot 
live  over  again  our  past  with  complete  fidelity  and 
harmony  as  to  all  details,  try  we  ever  so  sincerely. 
These  chapters  claim  to  be  nothing  more  than 
an  unstudied  record  of  some  persons  and  events 
that  may  give  glimpses  affording  a  more  correct 
revealing  of  parts  of  the  early  history  of  Abraham 
Lincoln. 

What  I  shall  relate  will  be  told  in  the  informal 
way  in  which  I  would  talk  to  a  friend  who  came 
from  time  to  time  asking  me  to  take  him  by 
memory's  light  through  some  of  the  hours  and 
days  and  years  of  more  than  half  a  century  ago. 


Personal  Mention  5 

As  I  pass  from  one  chapter  to  another,  my  pen 
will  not  be  guided  by  any  systematic  order  of 
time  or  coherence  of  parts.  These  pages  are  in 
tended  to  record  some  observations,  not  merely 
of  Lincoln  himself,  but  also  of  those  friends  who, 
like  St.  Paul's,  "were  a  help,"  and  timely  aids 
in  the  developing  and  formation  of  the  unique 
personality  of  President  Lincoln. 

I  have  tried,  when  relating  incidents  gleaned 
through  personal  contact,  to  keep  the  personal 
pronoun,  as  far  as  possible,  out  of  my  paragraphs, 
wishing  the  reader  to  see  Lincoln  and  a  few  of 
those  friends  who  "were  a  help"  to  him,  and  not 
the  writer.  From  this  limitation  I  have  departed 
consciously  only  when,  in  my  office  as  reporter, 
those  memory  flash-lights  necessarily  included  me 
in  the  situations  narrated. 

The  story  of  those  days  of  the  period  I  write 
about,  that  were  so  fruitfully  formative  in  the 
character  building  of  this  most  remarkable  man, 
has  already  been  told  over  and  over;  in  part 
wisely  and  well;  in  larger  part  in  a  manner  inaccu 
rate  and  misleading  to  the  historical  research  of 
the  future.  It  is  yet  too  early  to  expect  an  ade 
quate  biography  of  Lincoln.  We  are  yet  too 
near  to  him  in  time  to  get  the  true  perspective; 
to  trace  the  operation  of  the  forces,  internal  and 


6  Abraham  Lincoln 

external,  that  contributed  to  "his  development, 
or  to  compare  him  with  the  rest  of  earth's  im 
mortals.  But  some  day,  after  all  have  passed 
away  who  knew  Lincoln,  and  that  staging  of 
peculiar  personalities  and  events,  both  simple  and 
tragic,  that  formed  his  environment,  some  mas 
ter  historian  will  gather  the  partial  and  contra 
dictory  records  left  by  his  contemporaries,  purge 
them  of  falsehood  and  caricature,  and  from  the 
material  remaining  will  write  upon  the  unfading 
pages  of  history  the  true  character  story  of  Abra 
ham  Lincoln.  To  contribute  in  some  measure  to 
this  result  has  been  my  motive  in  writing  these 
pages. 

In  this  connection  I  wish  to  further  qualify 
these  musing  memories  by  a  foreword  of  even 
more  personal  and  intimate  explanation.  The 
interest  and  confidence  Lincoln  favoured  me  with 
in  the  years  of  my  youth  and  inexperience,  when 
I  was  privileged  to  be  near  him,  was  not  because 
of  my  personality  or  merits.  I  met  his  influence 
favoured  with  a  family  background  of  many  years, 
through  the  active  Whig  partisanship  Lincoln 
had  with  my  father.  Also,  with  a  much  longer 
and  the  more  intimate  connections  of  his  life  at 
Salem  with  my  mother  and  her  father's  family, 
who  were  settlers  there  many  years  before  Lincoln. 


Personal  Mention  7 

It  was  at  her  home  Lincoln  met  Ann  Rutledge. 
To  that  home  she  had  come  during  that  acquaint 
ance  as  a  scholar,  to  pursue  the  preparatory 
studies  that  would  enable  her  to  enter  the  Jack 
sonville  Academy  as  then  planned. 

I  appreciated  at  the  time  that  Lincoln  became 
interested  in  my  welfare,  as  fully  as  my  inexperi 
enced  youth  then  gave  me  capacity  for;  that  his 
consideration  and  confidences  thereafter  bestowed 
on  me  were  given,  as  I  have  before  mentioned, 
because  of  my  parents'  interest  in  his  earlier  years 
of  stress  and  trials  at  New  Salem.  More  especially 
so  were  the  associations  that  had  united  through 
so  many  of  those  years,  my  mother's  friend 
ship  and  interests  with  him,  in  connection  with 
his  acquaintance  with  the  sweet  and  winsome 
southern  maiden  and  its  ripening  through  those 
all  too  brief  months  of  courtship,  into  the  betrothal 
that  followed;  and  later  through  the  bitter  ones 
of  readjustment  he  went  through,  after  the  death 
of  Ann  Rutledge. 

It  was  out  of  these  associations  and  largely 
because  of  the  sweet  and  bitter  memories  and 
disciplines  in  the  Salem  years  of  Lincoln's  life, 
that  brought  me  near  him  and  made  possible  the 
story  it  is  my  privilege  to  now  recall  and  leave  in 
this  record.  My  personality  in  what  I  relate  is  of 


8  Abraham  Lincoln 

no  consequence.  To  have  known  intimately  and 
to  write  correctly  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  dwarfs  my 
little  life.  There  are,  however,  certain  important 
parts  of  his  life  and  of  influences  that  were  strong 
there  in  the  development  of  the  inner  and  greater 
Lincoln,  that  have  never  all  been  told.  Some  of 
those  told  are  sadly  defective.  There  are  slurs 
and  caricatures,  luminous  with  their  distortions, 
that  I  wish  to  see  removed  as  excrescences  from 
many  of  the  so-called  "accepted  historical  ac 
counts*'  of  the  personality  of  Lincoln;  and  other 
corrections,  even  more  especially  due,  to  the 
memory  of  Mrs.  Lincoln.  My  interest  and  pur 
pose  lies  in  a  desire  to  portray  correctly,  and 
understandingly,  the  humanly  quality  of  them 
both,  differing  as  widely  as  they  did  with  each 
other,  so  that  their  strong  personalities  may  be 
seen  in  history  a  little  more  clearly  than  now,  in 
the  goodness,  the  charity,  and  with  the  clarity  of 
judgment  their  lives  merited. 

To  return  to  the  first  meeting  which  took  place 
in  1846,  ten  years  after  Lincoln  had  left  Salem 
and  had  begun  the  practice  of  law  in  Springfield, 
as  the  partner  of  Major  John  T.  Stuart.  My 
recollection  of  his  personal  appearance,  as  I  then 
saw  him,  forms  a  picture  quite  different  from  that 


Personal  Mention  9 

of  1854  and  up  to  1860,  as  shown  in  photographs 
of  the  later  period.  At  this  earlier  date  he  was 
in  his  physical  prime.  He  had  the  well-developed 
muscles  and  the  fresh  colour  of  one  leading  an 
active  out-of-door  life  and  overflowing  with 
physical  vigour  and  health.  The  angular  form, 
the  long  sallow  face  and  swarthy  complexion  of 
later  years  do  not  come  back  to  me  out  of  the 
sixty-nine  years  ago  of  boyhood  memory  printed 
there  in  1846.  This  period  was  four  years  after 
his  marriage  to  Miss  Mary  Todd,  and  he  was  at 
that  time,  in  personal  appearance,  the  best-looking 
lawyer  attending  the  Petersburg  Circuit  Court. 

I  recall  Lincoln's  manner  towards  the  people 
whom  he  met  in  that  court  room,  as  being  quite 
in  contrast  with  that  of  other  visiting  attorneys. 
His  was  the  manner  of  one  who  had  come  home. 
Former  friends  and  neighbours  met  him  with  a 
cordiality  of  welcome  as  one  among  and  of  them 
still.  He  was  now  a  rising  lawyer  and  politician 
visiting  former  intimate  friends,  and  they  showed 
pride  in  his  success  by  the  hearty  manner  of  their 
greetings. 

Notwithstanding  Lincoln's  pronounced  Whig 
principles,  and  the  extreme  political  prejudices 
existing  between  the  Whig  and  Democratic  par 
ties  of  that  time,  his  personality,  wit,  humour, 


io  Abraham  Lincoln 

and  side-splitting  stories  held  the  hearts  of  the 
people  of  Menard  County,  irrespective  of  party 
lines,  as  they  had  fifteen  years  before,  when  he 
made  his  first  printed  appeal  to  them  on  March 
9,  1832,  as  a  candidate  for  the  legislature,  and 
received  the  entire  vote  of  the  Salem-Petersburg 
precinct,  with  only  three  exceptions. 

An  easy  and  approachable  bearing  toward  all 
classes  was  a  strong  characteristic  of  Lincoln's 
manner.  At  the  bar,  with  his  lawyer  friends,  to 
ward  the  judge,  in  his  considerate  examination 
of  witnesses,  or  in  the  selection  of  jurors,  his  placid 
and  even  temperament  was  equally  apparent. 
These  manners  were  not  for  the  court  room  only. 
His  tavern  chats  with  attorney  and  county  friends 
showed  the  same  even  courtesy  to  all. 

Among  these  tavern  friends  in  Petersburg  at 
that  time  were  some  men  of  strong  and  peculiar 
characteristics.  None  of  these  was  more  striking 
than  William  Engle  of  Sugar  Grove — farmer, 
country  merchant,  Disciples'  "  Campbellite " 
preacher,  Democratic  politician  and  member  of  the 
State  Legislature — acting  in  all  these  capacities 
at  the  same  time.  He  was  a  fine  conversationalist, 
with  infinite  stores  of  wit  and  anecdote.  During 
one  of  the  earlier  court  terms  at  Petersburg,  in 


Personal  Mention  H 

a  meeting  with  Lincoln  and  their  mutual  friends 
at  the  tavern,  they  continued  a  remarkable  bout 
of  story-telling  and  political  discussions  through 
out  the  entire  night,  holding  all  the  crowd  of 
mutual  friends  until  breakfast  call  the  next 
morning. 

There  was  Pantier  of  Sandridge — the  farmer, 
saw-mill  owner,  and  fortune-teller — a  crude  fore 
runner  of  the  Christian  Scientist  faith-cure  healer 
of  later  times.  There  were  Godby,  Smoot,  Rankin, 
Hill,  Harris,  the  Greens  and  Armstrongs,  with  a 
dozen  or  two  more,  similar  representatives  of  those 
early  pioneers,  not  to  omit  Menter  Graham, — who 
was  always  in  Petersburg  through  court  weeks, — 
a  typical  old-time  school-teacher  of  the  best  ed 
ucated  class.  He  it  was  who  introduced  Lincoln  to 
Calhoun  and  Stuart,  and  this  led,  first,  to  Lincoln's 
surveying  experience  with  the  former,  and  finally 
to  his  study  of  law  and  entrance  into  Springfield 
as  a  law  partner  of  the  latter. 

It  was  Menter  Graham  who  gave  Lincoln, 
while  living  in  Salem,  private  lessons  in  surveying, 
geometry,  and  English  grammar,  and  who  first 
opened  to  him  the  way  to  an  acquaintance  with 
the  best  English  writers;  for,  though  Graham's 
library  was  small, — fewer  than  fifty  volumes, — 
it  contained  some  of  the  best  of  English  literature, 


12  Abraham  Lincoln 

as  well  as  choice  translations  from  the  best  writers 
of  past  literary  ages. 

In  these  earlier  days  of  his  law  practice  and 
as  a  rising  politician,  Lincoln  was,  as  I  have 
remarked,  the  most  approachable  and  magnetic 
of  conversationalists.  The  individuals  mentioned 
were  not  typical  of  Petersburg  only,  though 
Lincoln's  personal  familiarity  during  earlier  ac 
quaintance  at  Salem  made  him  more  easily  at 
home  there  than  elsewhere.  He  met  at  all  the 
other  county  seats  within  the  law  circuits  over 
which  he  travelled,  the  same  early  settler's  class 
of  folk — in  Mason,  Tazewell,  Peoria,  Logan, 
McLean,  Champaign,  Christian,  and  his  home 
county  of  Sangamon,  as  well  as  in  his  occasional 
visits  into  adjoining  circuits  for  special  law  plead 
ings  or  campaign  speaking.  Association  with 
these  common  people,  of  whom  Lincoln,  later 
in  life,  said  the  Lord  certainly  thought  most  of, 
because  he  had  made  so  many  of  them,  proved 
to  be  a  more  resourceful  training  for  the  pe 
culiar  work  the  future  had  in  store  for  him,  when 
the  days  were  ripe  for  service  by  a  master  of 
men,  than  any  scholastic  education  which  he 
could  have  acquired  in  any  of  the  schools.  Never 
did  a  more  receptive  scholar  attend  any  school, 
and  his  scholarship  acquired  there  remained  a 


Personal  Mention  13 

life-long  asset.  Among  the  common-sense  pio 
neers  where  his  earlier  years  were  spent,  he  ac 
quired  that  simple,  direct  manner  of  speech  and 
the  every-day  common-sense  philosophy  which, 
in  the  supreme  crisis  of  our  Nation's  life,  made 
him  the  man  of  the  hour, — a  most  resourceful  and 
masterful  leader  of  men. 


Lincoln's  Easy  and  Friendly  Manner 


Lincoln  was  a  plain  man  of  the  people.  He  had 
a  face  that  disarmed  suspicion,  which  inspired  con 
fidence,  which  confirmed  good-will.  He  had  a  strong 
sense  of  duty,  which  it  was  easy  for  him  to  obey. 
He  had  a  vast  good  nature  which  made  him  tolerant 
and  accessible  to  all.  This  middle-class  country  had 
got  a  middle-class  president  at  last,  in  manners  and 
sympathies,  but  not  in  powers,  for  his  powers  were 
superior.  This  man  grew  according  to  the  need; 
he  mastered  the  problem  of  the  day.  In  four  years — 
four  years  of  battle  days — his  endurance,  his  fertility 
of  resource,  his  magnanimity,  were  sorely  tried  and 
never  found  wanting.  There  by  his  courage,  his 
humanity,  his  justice,  his  even  temper,  his  fertile 
counsel,  he  stood, — a  heroic  figure  in  the  centre  of  a 
heroic  epoch. 

RALPH  WALDO  EMERSON. 


16 


II 


LINCOLN'S  EASY  AND  FRIENDLY  MANNER 


DURING  one  of  the  sessions  of  the  Menard 
County  Circuit  Court  of  the  period  mentioned, 
an  incident  occurred  that  furnishes  an  illustra 
tion  of  Lincoln's  easy  manner  with  his  former 
country-folk  friends  around  Salem,  even  under 
trying  circumstances,  and  that  is  worth  reciting. 

Political  "stump  speaking"  was  not  then  put 
aside  during  court  terms,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
was  promoted  by  them.  A  platform  had  been 
erected  in  one  corner  of  the  court-house  yard, 
for  use  during  an  autumn's  session  of  that  Circuit 
Court,  and  was  being  used  alternately  by  Whig 
and  Democratic  speakers  at  the  noon  recess,  or 
in  the  afternoons  and  evenings  after  adjournment 
of  court. 

On  the  day  referred  to,  the  judge  announced, 
at  the  close  of  the  morning  session,  that  court 
would  not  convene  again  until  "about  three 
o'clock."  It  was  understood,  without  the  saying, 
that  this  concession  was  made  to  give  opportunity 
2  '17 


i8  Abraham  Lincoln 

for  a  platform  speech.  After  dinner,  the  people 
from  all  directions  began  to  assemble  in  the  court 
house  yard  near  the  platform.  The  latter  was 
a  crude  affair,  yet  of  generous  size  and  height. 
Two  rude  bench  seats,  made  from  slabs,  ex 
tended  its  full  length  at  the  rear.  No  table 
or  board  stood  on  the  front  of  the  platform  to 
hold  the  "paper-canned"  thoughts  in  manu 
script  such  as  some  present-day  speakers  require. 
Rude  board  steps  at  each  end  led  up  to  the 
platform. 

After  dinner,  on  the  day  referred  to,  the  judge, 
lawyers  and  neighbouring  "Squires,"  and  "princi 
pal  citizens"  began  filling  these  seats  in  anticipa 
tion  of  a  speech.  Presently,  from  all  sides  arose 
the  cry  of  "Lincoln!"  "Lincoln! "—"Abe  Lin 
coln!"  Lincoln,  who  was  never  in  any  haste  to 
begin  a  speech,  arose  leisurely  from  his  seat  on 
the  platform,  took  off  his  tall  hat,  shook  down  its 
contents  of  letters,  papers,  and  clippings  from 
newspapers,  with  which  it  was  always  partly 
filled,  and  stooping  down,  placed  it  carefully 
under  the  bench  on  the  platform  where  he 
had  been  sitting,  and  then  turning,  faced  the 
crowd  around  the  platform  and  began  his 
speech. 

A  few  minutes  later,  there  appeared  in  front 


Lincoln's  Easy  and  Friendly  Manner  19 

of  the  platform,  just  beneath  where  Lincoln 
was  standing,  James  Pantier,  resting  his  folded 
arms  on  the  outer  edge  of  the  platform.  There 
he  stood  with  face  upturned  at  an  angle,  so  that 
he  could  look  up  the  nearly  seven  feet  into  the 
speaker's  face.  His  hat  was  pushed  back  to  the 
greatest  angle  possible,  on  the  back  of  his  head 
and  shoulders;  and  such  a  hat!  All  semblance 
of  rim  or  crown  had  been  soaked  and  pressed 
out  of  it  by  rains  and  snows  from  without,  and 
by  the  heat  and  moisture  of  the  head  on  which 
it  now  rested  like  a  huge  funnel-shaped  hopper. 
His  clothing  would  have  baffled  the  descriptive 
powers  of  a  modern  society  editor.  The  hunting 
shirt  was  made  of  home- woven  blue  jeans,  trimmed 
across  the  shoulders  with  buckskin  fringe;  the 
sailor  collar,  wide  and  overlapping  in  front, 
fringed  also  with  long  buckskin  lacings,  most 
practically  designed  to  fold  over  the  head  in 
storms  of  wind,  rain,  and  snow;  trousers  of  home- 
woven,  bark-coloured  jeans,  faced  above  and 
below  across  the  knee  with  buckskin — too  short 
at  the  ankles  by  many  inches,  and  showing  feet 
shod  with  heavy  boots  foxy-red  by  long  tramps 
on  hunting  trips  through  the  wild  prairies  of  blue 
st  em  grasses  and  timber  undergrowths. 

Thus  clad  and  poised,  for  several  minutes  stood 


2O  Abraham  Lincoln 

Jimmie  Pantier  —  hunter,  trapper,  faith-doctor, 
saw-mill  owner  and  farmer  of  Sandridge;  one 
of  the  oldest  settlers  there,  and  among  the  first 
of  Lincoln's  friends  to  assist  him  financially  when 
he  was  sorely  pressed  by  debts  at  Salem,  and  at 
whose  home  of  plenty  Lincoln  had  been  often 
entertained  on  his  surveying  tramps,  or  hunting 
excursions  through  Sandridge  and  Salt  Creek 
bottoms. 

At  length,  failing  to  attract  Lincoln's  notice, 
his  clear  treble  voice  piped  out,  "Howdy  Abe! 
Howdy  Abe!"  —and  yet  even  the  third  time, 
"Howdy  Abe!" — before  Lincoln,  who  had  ceased 
speaking,  perceived  where  the  call  came  from. 
Then  looking  down,  he  cordially  exclaimed: 
"Why,  how  are  you,  Uncle  Jimmie!"  and,  stoop 
ing,  clasped  Pantier's  hand,  shaking  it  heartily, 
and  meantime,  half  bent,  still  holding  Pantier 
by  the  hand,  led  him  slowly  along  the  front  edge 
of  the  platform  to  the  steps  at  the  end,  then  up 
these  and  across  to  the  seat  he  had  vacated  himself 
a  few  minutes  before,  where  he  seated  the  old 
pioneer,  and  then  returning  to  his  former  position 
on  the  platform,  he  took  up  the  line  of  his  argu 
ment  where  it  had  been  interrupted,  and  proceeded 
as  if  no  pause  had  been  made. 

Pantier  meanwhile,  after  being  seated,  removed 


Lincoln's  Easy  and  Friendly  Manner  21 

the  remarkable  hat,  twisting  it  about  as  if  un 
certain  what  to  do  with  it,  until,  noticing  Mr. 
Lincoln's  hat  under  the  seat,  he  rolled  his  up  and 
thrust  the  crude  bunch  into  that,  and  then  settling 
himself  comfortably  back  in  the  seat  with  Judge 
Treat  on  one  side  and  the' Hon.  B.  S.  Edwards 
on  the  other,  fixed  his  eyes  and  attention  on 
Lincoln  as  he  stood  speaking  in  front  of  him. 

But  he  acted  as  though  ill  at  ease.  There  was 
something  irrepressible  in  his  manner,  something 
that  must  come  out.  He  had  come  to  town 
that  day  to  see  Lincoln  and  hear  him  speak, 
and  he  wished  to  treat  him  with  all  possible 
courtesy  at  his  former  home.  He  had  once  before 
this  visited  Springfield  to  see  Lincoln  and  his 
family  in  their  home,  where  Mrs.  Mary  Lincoln 
had  royally  entertained  and  enjoyed  the  quaint 
old  character,  thus  winning  this  simple-hearted 
man's  interest  and  love  forever.  He  now  showed 
by  nervous  squirmings  about  on  his  seat  that 
something  was  unfinished.  At  length  the  treble 
voice  piped  out:  "Abe!  Abe!  I  forgot  to  ax 
you  about  how  Mary  and  the  babies  were!" 

Lincoln  again  stopped,  turned  half-way  around 
toward  Pantier,  and  in  a  low  gentle  voice  replied : 
"All  well,  when  I  left  them  at  Springfield  yester 
day  morning,  Uncle  Jimmie;  all  very  well,  thank 


22  Abraham  Lincoln 

you!'* — and  resumed   his  speech   as  if  nothing 
unusual  or  private  had  again  interrupted  him. 

This  quality  of  mind  on  the  part  of  Lincoln  is 
illustrated  further  by  an  incident  that  occurred 
while  he  was  living  at  Salem  more  than  ten  years 
before.  I  repeat  it  as  told  by  one  who  was 
present:  Lincoln  was  on  one  of  his  frequent 
visits  to  the  home  of  Armstrong,  whose  son,  years 
later,  he  cleared  of  the  charge  of  murder  in  a  trial 
before  the  Mason  County  Circuit  Court, — which 
incident  Edward  Eggleston  has  woven  into  one 
of  his  novels.  At  the  dinner,  Mrs.  Armstrong 
had  placed  by  Lincoln's  plate  a  large  quart-bowl 
of  butter-milk,  knowing  his  fondness  for  that 
beverage.  In  some  way,  during  the  dinner's 
progress,  Lincoln  was  unfortunate  enough  to  let 
the  huge  bowl  slip  from  his  hand,  spilling  all  the 
contents  upon  the  table. 

Mrs.  Armstrong  was  quite  active  in  repairing 
the  damage  to  the  spread  caused  by  this  deluge, 
but  even  more  concerned  to  put  her  guest  at  his 
ease  after  such  a  mishap,  and  very  effusively 
begged  Lincoln  to  "not  mind  it  the  least  bit!— 
it  will  be  all  right  in  just  a  minute!"  Lincoln, 
having  mopped  up  with  the  towel  brought  him 
by  Mrs.  Armstrong  that  part  of  the  milky  overflow 


Lincoln's  Easy  and  Friendly  Manner  23 

that  had  reached  his  personal  apparel,  leaned  back 
in  his  chair  and  stretching  the  moist  towel  across 
both  knees  said,  with  one  of  his  most  expressive 
gestures:  "Well,  Aunt  Hannah,  if  you  don't  mind 
it,  neither  will  I." 


Lincoln's  Mental  Resources  and 
Peculiar  Consciousness 


The  colour  of  the  ground  was  in  him,  the  red  earth ; 

The  smack  and  tang  of  elemental  things: 

The  rectitude  and  patience  of  the  cliff; 

The  goodwill  of  the  rain  that  loves  all  leaves; 

The  friendly  welcome  of  the  wayside  well ; 

The  courage  of  the  bird  that  dares  the  sea; 

The  gladness  of  the  wind  that  shakes  the  corn; 

The  mercy  of  the  snow  that  hides  all  scars; 

The  secrecy  of  streams  that  make  their  way 

Beneath  the  mountain  and  the  rifted  rock; 

The  underlying  justice  of  the  light 

That  gives  as  freely  to  the  shrinking  flower 

As  to  the  great  oak  flaring  to  the  wind — 

To  the  grave's  low  hill  as  to  the  Matterhorn 

That  shoulders  out  the  sky. 

EDWIN  MARKHAM. 


Ill 


LINCOLN'S    MENTAL    RESOURCES   AND    PECULIAR 
CONSCIOUSNESS 

Advice  to  Young  Voter 

THE  law-office  of  Lincoln  and  Herndon  at 
Springfield  was  practically  the  Republican  head 
quarters  through  the  Fremont  campaign  of  1856, 
and  often  presented  scenes  of  sharp  discussions 
between  friends  of  Fremont  and  the  supporters 
of  the  other  two  presidential  candidates  in  that 
campaign.  Lincoln  was  especially  interested  in 
reaching  young  men  who  would  cast  their  first 
vote  that  year. 

One  of  these,  with  several  young  friends  who 
had  called  at  the  office,  was  strenuously  advocating 
the  election  of  Mr.  Fillmore.  Particular  emphasis 
was  placed  by  him  in  his  argument  with  Mr. 
Herndon,  and  cross-firing  with  several  others 
present,  on  the  conservative  qualities  of  Mr. 
Fillmore,  and  especially  the  "goodness"  in  that 
candidate.  Lincoln  had  been  silently  writing  at 

the  office  table  during  the  conversation,  and  the 

27 


28  Abraham  Lincoln 

subject  had  been  pretty  well  threshed  out  at  the 
time  when  Lincoln  took  up  his  hat  to  leave  the 
office.  He  paused  a  moment  beside  this  young 
man  whom  he  had  known  from  boyhood,  and  said : 

"You  are  in  favour  of  the  election  of  Mr. 
Fillmore  because  you  consider  him  the  best — • 
the  *  Good  Man '  in  the  canvass — but  you  concede 
that  his  election  appears  now  to  be  practically 
improbable,  and  becoming  daily  more  and  more 
discouraging?" 

"Yes,  sir,  I  do,  but  I  shall  vote  for  Mr.  Fillmore, 
the  best  man,  no  matter  what  his  prospects  of 
election  may  be." 

"Now,  my  young  friend,"  replied  Lincoln  in 
his  bland  voice  and  very  deliberately,  "I  think 
you  are  making  a  mistake  in  voting  for  Mr. 
Fillmore  because  of  his  goodness.  You  can  do 
something  so  much  better.  There  is  One  whose 
goodness  and  greatness  all  agree  far  exceed  Mr. 
Fillmore's  and,  in  fact,  all  others  that  could  be 
named.  No  one  will  question  this;  no  one  doubts 
it.  So  on  the  6th  of  next  November  I  advise 
you  to  go  to  the  polls  and  vote  for  Almighty  God 
for  President.  He  is  unquestionably  the  best  be 
ing  who  exists.  There  is  practically  as  much 
chance  of  electing  God  Almighty  President  of  the 
United  States  at  this  time,  as  Millard  Fillmore!" 


Mental  Resources  and  Consciousness  29 

Waiting  for  no  reply,  and  quite  hastily,  amid 
the  silence  that  settled  over  us  all,  Lincoln  passed 
out  of  the  office  and  down  the  stairway  to  the 
street. 

I  may  add  that  several  days  after,  this  young 
man  came  again  into  the  office,  exclaiming  as  he 
entered:  "Mr.  Lincoln,  I  have  concluded  not  to 
throw  away  my  first  vote  on  what  is  not  a  votable 
issue.  Neither  shall  I  follow  your  suggestion  of 
voting  for  God.  I  will  vote  for  John  C.  Fremont 
on  the  live,  practical  issues  before  us  at  this 
election." 

On  God's  Side 

This  peculiar  power  of  stating  the  moral  and 
practical  issues  of  a  subject  was  often  used  by 
Lincoln  in  his  presidential  years  with  telling  force 
and  effect. 

I  will  give  one  instance,  as  it  was  told  me  by  a 
friend  present  at  the  time.  A  delegation  called 
on  Lincoln  to  represent  the  ideas  prevailing 
in  their  section  as  to  the  conduct  of  the  war. 
They  had  read  to  him  a  lengthy  appeal  that 
some  things  be  done  immediately,  and  that 
certain  other  policies  be  discontinued.  Lincoln 
had  answered  in  a  few  well-timed  and  careful 
sentences,  and  had  just  taken  in  his  hands  the 


3Q  Abraham  Lincoln 

document  which  the  delegates,  wished  him  to 
consider  more  fully.  One  of  the  delegates  came 
closer  to  Lincoln,  and,  in  a  low  voice,  said : 

"I  hope,  Mr.  Lincoln,  that  God  is  on  our  side!" 

To  this  Lincoln  replied,  almost  abruptly:  "That 
does  not  concern  me!" 

The  startled  delegate  responded:— "What!  It 
does  not  concern  you,  Mr.  Lincoln,  to  have  God 
on  our  side?" 

"No,  sir,"  replied  Lincoln,  with  his  most  pos 
itive  emphasis:  "what  concerns  me  is  that  we 
shall  be  on  God's  side!" 

This  was  no  play  of  words.  The  thought  went 
to  the  very  centre  of  the  great  issues  of  that  hour 
through  which  Lincoln  was  then  so  anxiously  and 
patiently  groping  his  way ;  the  point  at  which,  in 
the  words  of  his  second  inaugural,  "as  God^gives 
us  to  see  the  right"  he  expected  to  arrive. 

At  this  early  period,  Lincoln  was  wholly  un 
conscious  of  outward  eccentricities  and  I  was  told 
by  those  near  him,  that  he  remained  so  to  the 
end.  The  books  which  he  borrowed  from  the 
State  or  Supreme  Court  Library  in  Springfield, 
he  carried  to  his  office  tied  up  in  a  handkerchief 
and  slung  over  his  shoulder,  as  if  the  bundle 
contained  game  and  he  was  returning  from  a 


Mental  Resources  and  Consciousness  31 

backwoods  hunt.  We  are  told  that,  while  Presi 
dent,  this  was  his  manner  of  carrying  books  and 
bulky  papers  back  and  forth  between  the  White 
House  and  the  War  Department. 

Lincoln  had  a  nameless,  native,  inner  grace 
of  deportment  that  rose  above  all  his  crude 
physical  movements,  and  this  with  a  mind  and 
emotions  completely  free  from  vanity  or  self- 
consciousness.  He  felt  no  embarrassment  on 
many  occasions  when  the  ordinary  temperament 
would  have  been  completely  absorbed  in  the 
confusion  of  personal  emotion  and  self-conscious 
chagrin. 

He  acquired  new  personal  characteristics  as 
wider  and  weightier  responsibilities  in  state  and 
military  affairs  pressed  upon  him;  but  the  old, 
and  first,  remained  to  the  end.  And  had  he 
wedded  Ann  Rutledge,  or  Miss  Owen,  or  some 
"Miss  Flora  McFlimsey,  of  Madison  Square," 
he  would  have  been,  at  times,  the  same  perplexing 
husband,  and  often  as  much  of  a  puzzle  or  some 
times  a  despair  to  them  in  shaping  his  domestic 
and  social  habits,  as  he  ever  was  to  Mary  Todd 
Lincoln  and  many  of  her  friends. 

Lincoln's  intellect  was  equally  peculiar  in  most 
ways.  Most  men  forget,  or  at  best  have  but  a 


32  Abraham  Lincoln 

hazy  abiding  consciousness  of  their  experiences, 
after  passing  through  and  beyond  them.  With 
very  few  are  they  available  immediately  when 
needed.  Not  so  with  Lincoln.  His  whole  varied 
past  life  was  with  him  an  active,  vivid,  present 
asset  upon  which  he  could  depend  and  draw  on 
effectively  at  any  moment  when  he  needed  to 
use  those  experiences  as  resources  for  any  present 
emergency. 

Present  day  psychologists  divide  life  into  the 
conscious  and  subconscious.  If  they  be  correct, 
Mr.  Lincoln's  subconsciousness  must  have  been 
located  in  the  tips  of  his  fingers  and  tongue,  and 
not  hidden  away  in  the  silences  of  the  grey  matter 
of  any  subconscious  existence.  He  was  certainly 
most  alertly  conscious  in  every  present  moment 
of  all  that,  in  the  past,  had  ever  existed  in  his 
mental  or  emotional  being. 

With  this  rare  endowment,  with  all  his  varied 
experience  to  draw  upon,  and  with  his  matured 
and  well-poised  common  sense  to  enlighten  and 
guide  him,  the  historian  will  ever  have  cause  to 
regret  Lincoln's  untimely  death.  Had  he  been 
spared  to  serve  his  second  term  as  President,  the 
mistakes  and  miseries  of  the  faulty  days  of  recon 
struction  would  surely  have  been  avoided  and  the 
re-establishment  of  peace  and  harmony  between 


Mental  Resources  and  Consciousness  33 

North    and    South    would    have   kbeen    greatly 
hastened. 

I  cannot  pass  from  these  incidents,  narrated  as 
partially  revealing  Mr.  Lincoln's  peculiar  con 
sciousness,  without  quoting  a  sentence  from  a 
private  letter  of  Margaret  Fuller  Ossoli.  It 
voices  yearnings  pathetic  to  read  in  the  light  of 
more  than  half  a  century  after  its  writing.  This 
gifted  woman's  faith,  with  all  her  wondrous  vision 
of  the  time  in  which  she  lived,  was  almost  in 
eclipse  in  1843.  After  making  an  extended  tour 
of  our  country,  north,  south,  east,  and  west,  she 
was  writing  from  Chicago  to  a  friend.  Sitting 
at  an  open  window  on  Michigan  Avenue  late  at 
night  overlooking  the  moon-lit  undulations  of 
the  lake,  she  likened  to  those  restless,  formless 
waves  the  unstable  condition  of  public  opinion 
on  the  great  moral  issues  then  before  the  country, 
with  no  leader, — no  masterful  First  American, — 
to  command  and  control  the  events  then  portend 
ing.  She  said: 

When  will  this  country  have  such  a  man?  It 
is  what  she  needs;  no  thin  idealist,  no  coarse  realist, 
but  a  man  whose  eye  reads  the  heavens,  while  his 
feet  step  firmly  on  the  ground,  and  his  hands  are 
strong  and  dexterous  for  use  of  human  implements. 


34  Abraham  Lincoln 

Less  than  two  hundred  miles  from  where  she 
wrote  these  lines,  the  man  her  prophetic  pen 
called  for  was  preparing, — all  unconsciously, — 
for  the  hour  and  the  mission  then  impending. 
With  the  last  of  his  three  law  partners  he  had  just 
entered  upon  the  close  study  of  those  political 
problems  that  were  to  arouse  the  national  con 
science  in  antagonism  to  state  rights  and  property 
rights  in  man.  Seventeen  years  later  the  hour 
had  struck,  and  the  greatest  event  of  the  century 
was  ushered  in  by  the  nomination  of  Abraham 
Lincoln  at  the  Republican  National  Convention 
held  in  the  same  city,  and  not  far  from  where 
Margaret  Fuller  uttered  that  cry  in  the  then 
darkened  wilderness  of  unshapened  national 
opinions.  His  "eyes  read  the  heavens,"  and  not 
as  a  "thin  idealist,  or  coarse  realist,"  but  "while 
his  feet  step  firmly  on  the  ground." 

On  the  long  roll  of  the  world's  great  leaders 
were  there  ever  "hands  so  strong  and  dexterous 
for  use  of  human  implements?" 


When  Lincoln  Swapped  Horses 


35 


Or  thus  we  know,  nor  doubt  it  not, 

The  boy  he  must  have  been 
Whose  budding  heart  bloomed  with  the  thought 

All  men  are  kith  and  kin — 
With  love-light  in  his  eyes  and  shade 

Of  prescient  tears : — Because 
Only  of  such  a  boy  were  made 

The  loving  man  he  was. 

JAMES  WHITCOMB  RILEY. 


IV 

WHEN  LINCOLN  SWAPPED  HORSES 

ANOTHER  incident  in  the  life  of  Lincoln  at  Salem 
deserves  mention  as  showing  his  practical  way  of 
meeting  the  emergency  of  a  stranger  in  sore  need 
of  immediate  assistance.  So  far  as  I  am  aware,  it 
was  the  only  time  Lincoln  ever  "swapped  horses." 

In  1830,  Dr.  Charles  Chandler,  with  his  family 
arrived  in  what  is  now  Cass  County.  He  became, 
from  the  time  of  his  arrival  in  that  vicinity,  a 
valuable  professional  addition  to  the  settlement, 
and  his  practice  extended  over  a  wide  area  of 
the  country  bordering  the  Sangamon  and  Illinois 
river-bottoms  and  prairie-lands  adjacent.  Like 
most  early  settlers  of  his  time,  his  finances  were 
limited,  and  what  money  he  brought  with  him 
was  expended  first  for  labour  to  build  his  cabin; 
for  the  purchase  of  two  horses  and  a  few  domestic 
animals ;  and  such  medical  supplies  as  his  increasing 
practice  required  his  furnishing  to  all  his  patients. 

The  Doctor  selected  and  had  located  his  new 

home  site  on  the  edge  of  one  of  the  Sangamon 

37 


38  Abraham  Lincoln 

River  bottoms  bordered  by  timbered  bluffs.  This 
tract  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  combined 
the  three  essentials  of  pioneer  life,  —  timber, 
water,  and  good  land.  He  proceeded  at  once  to 
build  a  log-cabin  near  the  centre  of  the  tract  in 
order  to  hold  a  pre-emptor's  right  to  both  eighty 
acres,  and  intended  to  secure  government  title 
to  it  at  his  later  convenience. 

In  those  days,  gold  and  silver  coin  was  very 
scarce,  and  what  little  there  was  brought  into  the 
country  quickly  found  its  way  into  the  land-office 
for  entry  of  land;  a  system  of  barter  supplying 
its  place  in  all  ordinary  transaction.  The  early 
settlers  therefore  usually  deferred  the  entry  of  the 
tracts  of  land  which  they  had  selected.  They 
built  their  house  and  raised  one  or  more  crops, 
before  purchasing  at  two  dollars  per  acre  their 
deed  to  the  land  at  the  United  States  land  office. 
An  unwritten  law  among  them  respecting  these 
* 'squatter"  claims  made  their  occupancy  as  secure 
as  though  they  held  the  Government's  deed.  To 
violate  these  rights  was  to  the  early  settlers  the 
unpardonable  sin. 

Dr.  Chandler  received  very  little  pay  for  his 
professional  services,  other  than  such  products 
as  his  patrons  could  spare.  These  supplied  him 
with  provisions  for  his  own  family  and  for  hos- 


When  Lincoln  Swapped  Horses    39 

pi  table  entertainment  of  those  who  travelled  that 
way.  He  had  been  on  his  claim  but  a  short  time 
when  a  stranger  named  English  came  with  the 
professed  intention,  as  he  said,  of  entering  land 
and  settling  there.  Later  it  was  found  that  he 
was  the  agent  of  a  Philadelphia  capitalist  who 
was  investing  in  lands  as  a  speculation.  Dr. 
Chandler  entertained  him  and  his  horse  with 
out  charge,  and  exerted  himself  to  accommo 
date  and  assist  him;  telling  him  all  he  knew 
about  the  country  and  its  prospects  in  order 
to  aid  him  in  selecting  a  suitable  location  and 
becoming  a  settler. 

English  looked  around  awhile,  but  could  find  no 
land  that  pleased  him  as  well  as  the  Doctor's 
claim  did.  Thereupon  Dr.  Chandler  very  gener 
ously  offered  to  let  him  enter  one  of  his  eighty-acre 
tracts,  being  half  of  his  own  claim.  This  did  not 
seem  to  entirely  satisfy  him ;  but  he  said  he  would 
go  to  Springfield,  after  a  few  days  more  of  prospect 
ing  and  enter  that  if  he  could  do  no  better.  At 
his  last  interview  with  Dr.  Chandler  he  showed 
a  map  he  carried  on  which  he  had  marked  several 
other  tracts  of  land,  from  which  he  said  he  might 
make  his  selection.  After  his  last  dinner  with  the 
Doctor,  he  left,  saying  he  would  pass  the  night 
with  another  settler  on  the  way  to  Springfield, 


40  Abraham  Lincoln 

* 

and  while  on  his  journey  he  would  look  at  several 
other  tracts  of  land. 

That  afternoon  Dr.  Chandler  had  several  pa 
tients  to  visit  and  soon  rode  away  toward 
Beardstown  for  such  purpose.  Near  sundown 
another  settler,  who  lived  ten  miles  from  Dr. 
Chandler  and  on  the  road  leading  to  Springfield, 
came  hastily  riding  up  to  Dr.  Chandler's  home 
enquiring  for  the  Doctor  who  had  not  yet  returned. 
He  said  that  he  must  see  the  Doctor  himself  and 
would  wait  for  his  return.  It  was  dark  before 
the  Doctor  returned  to  his  home.  The  neighbour 
then  informed  him  that  English,  when  he  passed 
his  place,  had  declared  his  intention  to  be  in 
Springfield  the  next  day  and  to  enter  not  only 
the  eighty  acres  the  Doctor  had  offered  him,  but 
his  entire  quarter  section;  and  that  he  had  plenty 
of  land-office  money  on  deposit  in  Springfield  to 
his  credit  for  this  and  also  for  entering  other 
tracts  he  had  marked  on  his  map. 

The  Doctor  was  more  than  surprised,  and  did 
not  relish  the  prospect  of  being  ousted  from  his 
home  in  such  a  summary  manner.  He  did  not 
have  enough  money  in  specie  to  pay  the  govern 
ment  for  the  land  at  what  was  then  the  fixed 
price  of  two  dollars  per  acre.  No  time  was  to  be 
lost.  None  of  his  near  neighbours  had  the  gold 


When  Lincoln  Swapped  Horses    41 

and  silver,  and  there  was  not  time  to  go  to  Beards- 
town  and  get  it  there.  His  financial  credit  was 
good,  but  only  gold  and  silver  coin  could  help 
him  in  this  emergency.  In  this  quandary  he 
mounted  his  horse  and  rode  away.  No  one  to 
whom  he  applied  had  any  money  until  he  came 
to  the  cabin  of  his  friend  William  McCaulley, 
who  happened  to  have  the  amount  the  Doctor 
needed.  When  told  by  the  Doctor  in  what 
exigency  the  treacherous  "land  shark"  English 
had  placed  him,  he  cheerfully  loaned  him  the 
money. 

It  was  midnight  when  he  got  back  home. 
After  a  hurried  lunch  he  changed  his  saddle  and 
saddle-bags  to  the  horse  Mrs.  Chandler  had  fed 
ready  for  his  night  trip  to  Springfield,  forty  miles 
away.  His  practice  as  a  physician  had  extended 
over  half  that  radius.  With  his  knowledge  of 
how  to  reduce  distance  by  direct  cross-country 
cuts,  and  taking  the  stars  to  guide  his  course,  he 
started  through  the  woods  and  prairies  in  a  direct 
line,  to  save  distance  and  cut  in  ahead  of  English. 
The  undergrowth  and  tall  grass  made  the  route 
chosen  a  fatiguing  one  for  the  horse  to  travel 
over,  under  the  rapid  gait  he  urged  him. 

As  he  struck  the  Springfield  road  beyond  Salem, 


42  Abraham  Lincoln 

his  horse  was  so  thoroughly  exhausted  that  the 
Doctor  dismounted  and  led  him,  intending  to 
leave  him  at  the  first  cabin  and  to  try  to  reach 
Springfield  afoot.  He  was  yet  twelve  miles  from 
his  journey's  end,  and  the  sun  more  than  half 
way  to  the  meridian.  In  this  extremity,  he  was 
overtaken  by  a  young  man  riding  a  spirited 
horse.  The  stranger  reined  up,  and  seeing  both 
the  jaded  condition  of  the  Doctor's  horse,  and 
the  evident  urgency  of  the  journey,  enquired  the 
cause.  In  a  few  words  the  Doctor  explained 
who  he  was,  where  he  was  from,  and  the  great 
need  he  had  for  reaching  Springfield  before  that 
man  English. 

i  The  Doctor, — in  telling  the  circumstances  to 
my  father  afterward, — said  that  the  young  man, 
without  a  word  of  reply,  dismounted  and  hastily 
shortened  the  stirrup  straps  on  his  saddle  to  suit 
a  pair  of  shorter  legs,  then  thrust  the  longest 
pair  of  arms  he  had  ever  seen  under  the  medicine- 
saddlebags  on  the  Doctor's  saddle  and  swung 
them  across  the  saddle  of  his  own  spirited  steed, — 
saying  as  he  did  so: 

"There,  Doctor,  mount  my  horse  and  leave  me 
yours,  don't  let  any  grass  grow  under  his  feet  on 
the  way;  leave  him  at  Herndon's  stables  where 
I  will  have  yours  sometime  today  for  another 


When  Lincoln  Swapped  Horses    43 

'horse  swap.'  I  want  to  get  you  and  your  pill- 
bags  and  the  specie  coin  in  the  land-office  ahead 
of  that  'shark.'  No  thanks; — just  go." 

The  Doctor  said  he  never  made  a  mount  so 
quick  in  his  life  as  that,  and  as  he  took  up  the 
reins,  the  young  man  gave  the  steed  a  sharp  slap 
on  the  rump  that  started  him  down  the  road  in  a 
canter  which  he  did  not  slacken  until  he  rode 
up  to  Herndon's  stables  in  Springfield,  an  hour 
before  English  arrived. 

The  Springfield  land-office  records  show  that  the 
first  business  transacted  June  2,  1832,  was  the 
entry  by  Charles  Chandler  of  the  lands  on  which 
he  had  built  his  cabin.  Late  the  same  day, 
Abraham  Lincoln  walked  up  to  Herndon's  stables 
leading  a  forlorn-looking  horse.  The  young  man 
had  walked  the  twelve  miles  and  redeemed  his 
promise  to  "swap  back  again." 

Later  in  the  month,  Dr.  Chandler,  having  re 
ceived  remittances  from  the  East,  repaid  Mr. 
McCaulley  and  made  a  more  leisurely  trip  to 
Springfield  to  enter  another  forty  acres  adjoining 
his  other  land.  Having  acquired  perfect  title  to 
all  this  land,  he  concluded  to  have  it  surveyed  to 
establish  accurately  its  metes  and  bounds.  Mak 
ing  enquiry  for  a  surveyor  to  do  the  work,  he  learned 
that  a  young  man  residing  farther  up  the  river, 


44  Abraham  Lincoln 

at  a  place  called  Salem,  was  a  competent  surveyor 
and  thoroughly  reliable.  He  sent  word  for  him  to 
come  and  survey  the  land.  On  his  arrival  Dr. 
Chandler  was  surprised  and  gratified  to  find  in 
the  surveyor  the  young  man  who  had  so  quickly 
solved  the  apparently  hopeless  situation  involving 
the  title  to  his  land.  The  fresh  horse  furnished 
by  Abraham  Lincoln  to  a  stranger  enabled  him  to 
beat  English  to  the  land-office  and  thus  save  his 
home. 

It  was  this  humanly  quality  of  Lincoln  that  be 
came  his  most  valuable  asset  during  presidential 
years.  During  the  first  fifty  years  of  his  life  he 
was  brought  into  such  close  and  sympathetic 
contact  with  the  primitive  qualities  of  so  many 
classes  of  people,  that  he  became,  humanly,  a 
better  educated  man  than  those  around  him  who 
prided  themselves  on  their  special  literary  culture. 
His  career  presents  a  grave  problem  to  the  cultural 
civilization,  which  in  recent  years  is  endeavouring, 
more  than  ever  before,  to  develop  human  quality 
by  educational  systems  which,  as  is  shown  in 
practical  results,  unfortunately  tend  more  and 
more  to  dwarf  the  human  part  in  character. 

Lincoln  knew  his  countrymen  far  better  than 
did  any  of  the  learned  men  who  were  attached 


When  Lincoln  Swapped  Horses    45 

to  his  civil  and  military  administration.  He  knew 
them  because  he  had  been  so  intimate  with  them. 
They  had  seen  problems  of  life  as  outside  observers 
and  students.  He  had  lived  close  to  the  people, 
and  lived  his  life  there  as  one  of  them.  His  was 
not  an  expert's  knowledge.  It  was  something 
better.  His  insight  came  from  a  deep  sympathy 
growing  out  of  and  up  with  him  in  his  unusual 
opportunities  for  studying  men  during  his  first 
fifty  years.  Those  years  had  brought  him  into 
contact  with  a  wider  variety  of  the  typical  life  of 
mankind  than  any  other  public  man  of  his  time. 

It  was  this  humanly  quality  of  Abraham  Lincoln 
that  enabled  him  to  put  himself  in  the  position  of 
others  and  see  as  they  did,  that  now  crowns  him 
as  our  First  American. 


The  Bowling  Greene  Home 


47 


Gave  resolution  to  the  ruler's  pen ; 
The  books  he  conned  beside  the  open  fire 
Made  strong  the  brain  which  battles  could  not  tire; 
The  law  courts  with  forensic  shift  and  strife 
The  ax  the  gaunt  youth  swung  in  dale  and  glen 
Prepared  him  for  that  tragedy,  his  life. 
He  never  held  his  ways  from  men  apart, 
Yet  kept  a  sanctuary  in  his  heart 
Whence  flowed  a  stream  of  love  and  hope,  to  bless, 
i  Pure  as  a  clear  stream  in  a  wilderness. 

HARRY  H.  KEMP. 

The  mossy  marbles  rest 
On  the  lips  that  he  has  prest 

In  their  bloom; 

And  the  names  he  loved  to  hear, 
Have  been  carved  for  many  a  year, 

On  the  tomb. 

OLIVER  WENDELL  HOLMES. 


THE  BOWLING  GREENE  HOME 

SOME  confusion  exists  as  to  where  the  Bowling 
Greene  farmhouse  was  situated.  Lincoln's  early 
life  was  so  closely  associated  with  this  home  that 
its  exact  location  is  a  matter  of  public  interest. 
The  records  show  that  Greene  entered  one  eighty- 
acre  tract  in  1829  and  the  other  in  1831.  The 
farm  was  on  the  west  side  of  the  Sangamon,  north 
of  Salem  and  not  south,  as  Herndon  and  most 
others  locate  it.  The  tract  of  land  included  the 
timbered  bluffs  on  the  west  and  all  the  prairie 
bottom  on  the  east,  taking  in  part  of  the  Sangamon 
River.  Greene  built  his  house  at  the  edge  of  the 
bluffs,  and  fronting  the  level  prairie  bottom-lands 
along  the  river. 

The  Springfield  road  ran  north  and  south  in 
front  of  the  house,  which  was  a  comfortable  and 
commodious  dwelling  for  that  time.  Less  than  a 
mile  south  of  the  house  was  the  old  Salem  mill 
and  dam  with  the  village  of  Salem  just  above  the 
hill  to  the  west.  Orchards  and  garden  came  up  to 
4  49 


50  Abraham  Lincoln 

the  yard  on  both  sides,  and  back  of  the  house 
extended  to  the  edge  of  the  timbered  bluffs  behind 
them. 

It  was  to  this  quaint  and  hospitable  home  that 
William  G.  Greene  brought  Richard  Yates  dur 
ing  a  vacation  of  Illinois  College  in  Jacksonville, 
where  both  these  young  men  were  students. 
Greene  wished  Yates  to  see  his  young  friend 
Lincoln  of  whom  he  had  often  spoken  to  him. 
They  walked  across  from  Greene's  father's  one 
afternoon  for  that  purpose.  I  shall  give  Yates's 
account  of  how  he  met  Lincoln  this  first  time. 
He  related  it  as  an  introduction  to  a  speech 
he  delivered  in  Springfield  twenty-four  years 
later. 

This  speech  by  Yates  was  delivered  in  1860, 
fifty-five  years  ago.  Lincoln  had  been  nominated 
as  the  Republican  candidate  for  President.  Yates 
had  been  nominated  by  the  same  party  as  their 
candidate  for  Governor  of  Illinois.  There  was 
being  held  in  Springfield  the  great  ratification 
mass-meeting  to  celebrate  the  event  at  Lincoln's 
home  town.  More  than  a  hundred  thousand 
jubilant  citizens  participated  in  the  occasion. 
When  the  Jacksonville  delegation,  headed  by 
Yates,  arrived  in  Springfield,  they  passed  up 
town  from  the  Wabash  Station  to  the  Lincoln 


The  Bowling  Greene  Home         51 

home  on  Eighth  Street.  The  procession  halted 
there  long  enough  for  Lincoln  and  Yates  to  ex 
change  hand-shaking  greetings  amid  the  deaf 
ening  huzzahs  of  the  thousands  who  swarmed 
around  the  Lincoln  residence.  Yates  was  then 
borne  along  with  the  "Wide  Awake  "  escort  and  the 
enthusiastic  crowd  following  them  to  the  Capitol 
grounds  where  he  was  scheduled  to  deliver  the 
main  speech  of  the  day. 

In  his  first  sentences  he  told  of  his  first  and  last 
meeting  with  Lincoln  in  a  manner  so  felicitous 
as  to  call  out  more  enthusiastic  cheering  than  any 
other  on  that  jubilant  Springfield  day  when 
enthusiasm  knew  no  limits.  He  told  how  Greene 
and  he  when  college  students  on  a  visit  at  Greene's 
father's  twenty-four  years  before,  made  a  trip 
across  the  country  to  Bowling  Greene's  to  meet  a 
young  man  whom  his  friend  had  praised  most 
volubly  to  his  college  mates.  They  found  young 
Lincoln,  he  said,  spread  out  all  over  the  inclined 
surface  of  an  outside  cellar  door,  reading  a  big 
book  which  he  afterwards  noticed  was  a  vol 
ume  of  Blackstone's  Commentaries.  As  they  ap 
proached,  Lincoln  began  straightening  himself 
out,  and  up,  to  greet  them.  He  saw  then  what  an 
amazing  amount  of  outcome  there  was  in  the 
young  fellow  who  had  so  completely  filled  the 


52  Abraham  Lincoln 

whole  cellar  door  and  whose  tip  to  tip  measure 
ment  was  nearly  seven  feet. 

That  first  handshake  of  Lincoln,  Yates  con 
tinued,  was  the  cordial  greeting  of  one  of  the  most 
self-poised  young  men  he  had  ever  met,  and  after 
a  couple  of  hours'  -conversation,  and  the  bountiful 
spread  to  which  Mrs.  Greene  had  insisted  on  their 
sitting  down,  they  returned  to  young  William 
Greene's  father's.  After  that  meeting  he  never 
again  doubted  "Billy"  when  he  entertained  his 
fellow-students  with  boastful  accounts  of  young 
Lincoln's  powers  of  muscle  and  of  wit. 

Yates  then  went  on  to  say  that  he  had  just  that 
morning  had  another  and  last  hand-clasp  with 
Lincoln.  This  time  it  was  at  his  own  modest 
home  in  this  city.  This  time,  as  he  held  that  great, 
big,  strong  hand,  he  felt  every  nerve  in  his  body 
thrilled  with  the  consciousness  that  he  had  at  that 
instant  the  privilege  of  shaking  hands  with  the 
next  President  of  the  United  States.  Here  his 
voice  was  drowned  with  such  deafening  applause 
that  he  remained  silent  until  it  subsided.  When 
he  could  make  himself  heard,  he  resumed,  saying: 
"At  the  same  moment  when  I  was  clasping  the 
hand  of  the  next  President  of  the  United  States, 
I  felt  sure  that  Mr.  Lincoln  had  the  privilege  of 
shaking  hands  with  the  next  Governor  of  Illinois." 


The  Bowling  Greene  Home         53 

Lincoln's  attendance  at  the  Bowling  Greene 
funeral  in  1842  brought  out  some  of  his  charac 
teristics  so  vividly  that  I  give  the  scene  as  I  had 
it  from  a  granddaughter  of  Greene's,  who  was 
less  than  eight  years  old;  and  two  of  Lincoln's 
most  intimate  friends  who  were  at  the  funeral. 
Lincoln  was  then  residing  in  Springfield,  and  was  a 
law  partner  of  Stephen  T.  Logan.  Word  came  to 
him  of  Greene's  serious  illness,  and  a  few  hours 
later  of  his  death.  Lincoln  at  once  went  out  to 
Mrs.  Greene's  and  remained  with  her  until  after 
tne  funeral.  Greene  was  a  man  of  considerable 
local  prominence.  He  had  been  a  Justice  of  the 
Peace  several  years,  and  was  always  active  in 
political  campaigns.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Masonic  fraternity,  and  the  first  of  that  order 
among  the  early  settlers  in  that  neighbourhood 
who  had  died.  The  Masons  had  charge  of  his 
funeral  and  conducted  it  according  to  their  ritual. 

The  granddaughter  of  Greene  said  she  recalled 
little  else  of  her  grandfather's  funeral  except  the 
white  aprons  worn  by  the  Masons;  the  open  Bible 
carried  by  the  Chaplain;  the  Tyler  with  the  drawn 
sword,  and  some  other  regalia  worn  by  the  Masonic 
brotherhood,  who  attended  the  funeral's  procession 
on  its  way  to  the  primitive  burying-place,  and 
there  stood  around  the  grave  while  the  coffin  was 


54  Abraham  Lincoln 

lowered  into  it.  She  said  Lincoln  was  holding 
her  hand  while  her  grandmother,  on  the  other 
side,  rested  hers  on  Lincoln's  arm  during  the 
Masonic  exercises  and  while  the  grave  was  being 
filled. 

Both  W.  G.  Greene  and  Menter  Graham  gave 
me,  many  years  after,  this  account  of  the  uncon 
trollable  grief  to  which  Lincoln'  gave  way  before 
leaving  the  Greene  home  for  the  graveyard. 

The  Masons,  knowing  the  long  acquaintance 
and  friendship  of  Lincoln  with  the  deceased,  had 
requested  him  to  make  some  remarks  on  the 
character  and  life  of  Greene.  He  had  consented 
to  do  so.  The  Master  of  Ceremonies,  at  the  proper 
time  called  Lincoln,  who  came  in  and  stood  at  the 
head  of  the  casket.  He  looked  down  a  few  moments 
at  the  face  of  his  friend.  His  whole  frame  began 
trembling  with  suppressed  emotion.  He  then 
turned  and  faced  the  friends  who  filled  the  room 
and  crowded  the  doorways  and  stood  outside 
around  the  open  windows.  He  spoke  a  few  words, 
— broken  sentences  only, — tremulous  vibrations  of 
the  thoughts  he  found  it  impossible  to  coherently 
articulate.  Tears  filled  his  eyes.  He  vainly 
struggled  to  regain  that  self-control  under  which 
he  had  always  held  his  feelings  before  these  friends 


The  Bowling  Greene  Home         55 

on  so  many  occasions.  He  had  no  words  that  could 
express  adequately  the  thoughts  that  thronged 
him  as  he  stood  beside  the  body  of  his  friend  whose 
life  had  been  so  near  his,  and  had  meant  so  much 
to  him. 

The  gratitude,  love,  and  grief  expressed  in  the 
silence  of  his  emotions,  interpreted  to  all  present 
his  depth  of  feeling  better  than  any  words  of 
tribute  that  could  have  been  offered  by  him. 
Abruptly  seizing  his  hat,  he  buried  his  face  a 
moment  in  his  handkerchief ; — then  turned  to  Mrs. 
Greene's  side,  who  rose  and  took  his  offered  arm 
as  he  came  to  her.  There,  after  a  short  interval, 
he  regained  his  composure,  and  with  a  silent 
dignity,  motioned  those  in  charge  to  pass  out  with 
the  casket.  The  lid  was  screwed  on  and  the 
remains  borne  from  the  room  by  the  Masons. 
Lincoln  followed,  supporting  Mrs.  Greene  on  his 
arm,  and,  leading  the  granddaughter,  they  fol 
lowed  the  coffin  to  the  graveyard.  This  was 
located  on  his  farm  and  was  only  a  short  distance 
from  the  Greene  home. 

I  asked  both  Menter  Graham  and  W.  G.  Greene 
if  Lincoln  showed  embarrassment  during,  or  after, 
his  failure  to  perform  the  part  assigned  him. 
They  both  assured  me  he  did  not;  that  he  acted 
with  entire  indifference  to  all  surroundings,  mani- 


56  Abraham  Lincoln 

fested  no  self-consciousness  that  confused  him; 
that  his  signal  to  proceed  with  the  casket,  was 
given  with  an  authoritative  dignity,  betraying  not 
the  slightest  consciousness  of  his  having  failed  to 
make  the  address  they  had  expected. 

Lincoln  had  no  boorish  or  awkward  manners. 
He  possessed  a  nameless  grace  of  deportment  that 
kept  him  self-poised,  self -sustained,  in  any  and  all 
new  and  unexpected  situations.  He  was  master 
of  himself  on  such  occasions,  so  far  as  his  mental 
powers  were  necessary  to  control  his  physical 
movements.  He  held  his  nerves  in  control  beyond 
the  possibility  of  any  surprises  that  might  come 
through  his  mental  sympathetic  make  up.  Under 
the  most  unusual  and  trying  circumstances,  he 
showed  no  embarrassment  in  his  countenance, 
bodily  movements,  or  deportment,  be  the  occasion 
a  public  or  private  one.  He  maintained,  without 
visible  effort,  an  even  serenity  and  composure. 
He  was  the  master  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  It  is  not 
remarkable,  therefore,  that  in  later  years  he  should 
prove  himself  so  masterful  of  others. 

In  a  beautiful  cemetery  at  Petersburg,  Illinois, 
amid  the  oaks  and  evergreens  covering  the  land 
scape,  are  the  graves  of  the  Bowling  Greene  family. 


The  Bowling  Greene  Home         57 

These  are  marked  by  modest  headstones  inscribed 
with  the  legends  of  their  birth  and  death.  A  few 
steps  from  those  graves,  on  a  grassy  mound,  rests 
an  unpolished  boulder-rock  that  was  selected 
from  the  banks  of  a  nearby  stream.  On  this 
glazier-polished  stone  is  carved  the  name, — 
ANN  RUTLEDGE.  This  and  nothing  more  appears 
on  her  grave  to  chronicle  the  birth,  life,  and  death 
of  her  whose  influence  and  name  will  never  fade 
from  the  annals  of  our  nation's  history. 

To  this  secluded  repose  of  death  these  humble 
ones  of  the  early  Salem  life  have  been  brought 
from  their  first  burial-places,  to  rest  here  near 
each  other.  It  is  appropriate  that  this  cemetery 
should  be  the  resting-place  of  the  Bowling  Greene 
family,  and  that  here  also,  so  near  them,  should 
repose  that  solitary  one  whose  grave  bears  only  a 
name.  Those  who  visit  this  secluded  locality 
will  recognize  the  historic  surroundings  of  this 
cemetery  and  appreciate  the  suggestions  these 
graves  awaken.  In  contrast  with  that  solitary 
grave,  and  the  simple  boulder  stone,  carved  with 
the  maiden's  name,  one  thinks  of  the  monumental 
shaft  in  Oak  Ridge  at  Springfield  and  a  national 
memorial  at  Washington. 

These  graves,  with  the  modest  memorials  mark 
ing  them,  are  near  the  Sangamon's  slow  flowing 


58  Abraham  Lincoln 

waters  and  under  skies  that  once  arched  above  the 

^ 

New  Salem  life  in  primitive  times  amid  its  scenes 
of  love  and  joy,  as  well  as  those  of  its  pains  and 
griefs.  Here  beside  the  grave  of  her  who  was  the 
first  love  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  it  is  deserved  and 
fitting  to  pay  some  tribute  of  gratitude  to  the 
maiden  whose  charming  personality  and  character, 
during  the  brief  period  of  their  lover-life,  bright 
ened  and  sweetened  and  made  more  lovable  the 
great  soul  of  Abraham  Lincoln, 
i  It  was  her  untimely  death,  with  all  the  bitter 
ness  it  then  brought  him,  that  proved  to  be  for 
him  an  event  that  became  the  turning-point  of  his 
life.  Out  of  her  loss  arose  in  his  soul  inspirations 
that  exalted  his  manhood  more  than  had  any 
other  influence  before.  Out  of  this  disappoint 
ment  and  its  disciplines,  with  much  anguish  of 
spirit,  there  came  to  him  a  poise  of  character  and 
refined  aspirations  that  never  failed  to  sustain  him 
through  his  future's  greater  extremities. 


Ann  Rutledge  in  the  Life  of 
Abraham  Lincoln 


59 


Out  of  me  unworthy  and  unknown 

The  vibrations  of  deathless  music; 

"With  malice  toward  none,  with  charity  for  all." 

Out  of  me  the  forgiveness  of  millions  toward  millions, 

And  the  beneficent  face  of  a  nation 

Shining  with  justice  and  truth. 

I  am  Ann  Rutledge  who  sleep  beneath  these  weeds, 

Beloved  in  life  of  Abraham  Lincoln, 

Wedded  to  him,  not  through  union, 

But  through  separation. 

Bloom  forever,  0  Republic, 

From  the  dust  of  my  bosom! 

EDGAR  LEE  MASTERS. 


60 


VI 

ANN  RUTLEDGE  IN  THE  LIFE  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

IT  is  difficult  to  describe  the  beginnings  of 
affairs  and  the  personal  life  of  people  in  Illinois 
from  1818  to  1850  in  such  a  manner  as  to  represent 
intelligibly  to  readers  of  the  present  time  condi 
tions  as  they  existed  then.  That  period  included 
the  larger  part  of  Lincoln's  life,  and  Lincoln's  life 
formed  an  expressive  and  important  part  of  that 
period. 

If  you  would  understand  Lincoln  in  the  master 
fulness  of  his  later  life,  you  must  first  see  him  in 
some  of  those  intimacies  of  his  early  manhood  and 
appreciate  the  associations  which,  through  his 
careful  selection  of  friends  and  companions  in 
those  primitive  times,  consistently  contributed  to 
his  development.  To  this  end  there  must  needs 
be  some  mention  of  people  who  were  near  him  as 
friends  and,  in  a  few  cases,  of  the  women  who  came 
nearer  to  him  than  friendship,  and  lastly  of  her 
who  became  his  wife  and  who,  despite  all  her 
failings,  was  the  strongest  and  most  controlling 

61 


62  Abraham  Lincoln 

influence  and  power  of  any  one  who  ever  came 
into  his  life. 

Most  of  what  I  shall  relate  in  this  chapter's 
medley  of  memory  came  to  me  from  the  generation 
before  mine,  from  those  who  were  the  first  settlers 
of  New  Salem  and  its  vicinity  and  who  knew 
Lincoln  while  there.  They  often  talked  with  me 
of  Lincoln's  habits  and  friendships  while  he  lived 
there,  for  I  sought  these  conferences  and  their 
confidence.  Much  of  what  they  told  me  seems 
worthy  of  record,  for  there  is  no  part  of  Lincoln's 
life  that  has  been  more  distorted  for  sensational 
effect,  or  has  been  told  in  a  more  unfortunate 
manner,  than  those  years  he  spent  at  New  Salem. 

First  among  the  sources  of  my  information,  I 
shall  mention  my  mother,  and  shall  relate  what 
I  learned  from  her  about  Lincoln's  visits  at 
the  home  of  my  grandfather,  Colonel  Matthew 
Rogers.  My  mother  was  next  to  the  youngest  in  a 
family  of  eight  children  and  was  sixteen  years  old 
when  they  arrived  in  Illinois.  She  lived  until 
nearly  ninety. 

Matthew  Rogers,  in  the  War  of  1812  Colonel 
of  the  54th  Regiment,  New  York  Militia,  resigned 
his  commission  in  1818  to  remove  with  his  family 


And  Ann  Rutledge  63 

to  Illinois.  He  sold  his  farm  near  Cooperstown, 
New  York,  that  year  and  built  a  large  flat  boat  at 
Olean  Point,  from  which  place  he  embarked  in  it 
with  his  family  and  household  goods  to  Pittsburg 
and  thence  down  the  Ohio  River  in  the  fall  of  1818. 
He  arrived  at  Shawneetown,  Illinois,  in  December 
of  that  year.  There  he  procured  teams  to  trans 
port  them  to  Madison  County,  east  of  St.  Louis, 
where  he  planned  to  spend  the  first  year  in  the 
older  settlement,  and  to  raise  the  supplies,  and  to 
procure  the  necessary  implements,  teams,  and 
young  stock  that  he  would  need  when  he  should 
move  north  the  next  spring  into  what  was  then 
called  the  "  Sangamo  country."1  These  plans  he 
carried  out,  visiting  the  new  country  in  the  fall  of 
1819  and  selecting  and  marking  his  pre-emption 
as  the  law  and  frontier  custom  required,  before  and 
after  Government  surveys.  He  arrived  in  the 
spring  of  1820  at  the  claim  he  had  pre-empted, 
fourteen  miles  north-west  of  the  site  of  Springfield, 
and  four  miles  east  of  the  future  New  Salem. 

Eight  years  later,  Colonel  Matthew  Rogers  was 
commissioned  postmaster  of  Rogers  post  office. 
The  establishing  of  that  post  office  antedates  that 
of  Salem  by  nearly  two  years,  as  shown  by  the 

1  At  that  early  date  "  Sangamo  country  "  extended  from  Madi 
son  County  (east  of  St.  Louis)  to  Lake  Michigan  in  three  parallel 
strips,  respectively  named  Madison,  Bond,  and  Crawford  counties. 


64  Abraham  Lincoln 

following  answers  to  my  inquiry  of  the  First  As 
sistant  Postmaster: 

POST  OFFICE  DEPARTMENT, 
IST  ASSISTANT  POSTMASTER  GENERAL. 
Washington,  May  21,  1913. 
Mr.  Henry  B.  Rankin, 

510  South  Second  Street. 
SIR: 

In  reply  to  your  letter  of  the  i6th  instant,  you  are 
informed  that  according  to  the  records  of  this  office 
the  post  office  of  New  Salem,  in  Sangamon  County, 
Illinois,  was  established  in  December  25,  1829,  with 
Samuel  Hill  as  postmaster.  He  was  succeeded  by 
Isaac  P.  Chrisman,  appointed  November  24,  1831, 
who  in  turn  was  succeeded  by  Abraham  Lincoln, 
appointed  May  7,  1833.  Mr.  Lincoln  served  as  post 
master  until  the  discontinuance  of  the  post  office  on 
May  30,  1836. 

Respectfully, 

DANIEL  C.  ROPER, 
1st  Asst.  Postmaster  General. 

POST   OFFICE   DEPARTMENT, 
IST  ASSISTANT  POSTMASTER  GENERAL. 
Washington,  May  28,  1913. 
Mr.  Henry  B.  Rankin, 

510  South  Second  Street, 
Springfield,  Illinois. 
SIR: 

In  reply  to  your  letter  of  the  24th  instant,  you  are 


And  Ann  Rutledge  65 

informed  that  according  to  the  records  of  this  office 
the  post  office  of  Rogers,  Illinois,  was  established 
January  2, 1828,  with  Matthew  Rogers,  as  postmaster. 
He  was  succeeded  by  Henry  C.  Rogers  appointed 
February  13,  1829.  On  November  4,  1831,  the  name 
of  that  office  was  changed  to  Athens  and  Henry  C. 
Rogers  was  reappointed  postmaster  on  that  date. 
He  was  succeeded  by  Jonathan  Dunn,  appointed 
February  6,  1832. 

Respectfully, 

DANIEL  C.  ROPER, 
1st  Assistant  Postmaster  General. 

Lincoln  had  become  acquainted  with  the  family 
of  Matthew  Rogers  shortly  after  he  arrived  in  New 
Salem  on  his  return  from  the  Blackhawk  War,  in 
1831.  He  had  learned  from  Menter  Graham  that 
Colonel  Matthew  Rogers  brought  with  him  from 
New  York  a  chest  of  books  and  among  them  some 
text-books  that  Rogers 's  sons  had  used  at  Coopers- 
town.  Graham  needed  these  books  for  Lincoln's 
use  under  his  tutoring.  This  first  trip  for  text 
books  was  not  made,  as  several  sensational  chron 
iclers  have  asserted,  "six  miles  and  barefooted." 
He  was  described  to  me  by  one  who  saw  him  on 
this  visit,  as  clad  in  the  gentlemanly  attire  suit 
able  for  a  merchant,  which  was  the  business  he 
was  in  at  Salem.  This  first  visit  at  the  Rogers 


66  Abraham  Lincoln 

home  made  an  unusually  good  impression  on  the 
Colonel  and  family.  After  this  first  visit  Lincoln 
often  walked  across  the  four  miles  through  the 
virgin  forest  that  skirted  the  Sangamon  River  on 
the  east  of  Salem,  to  the  prairie's  edge  where 
the  Rogers  farm  home  was  located.  These 
visits  became  more  and  more  frequent  be 
cause  of  the  good  fellowship  of  kindred  spirits 
he  met  there,  and  Lincoln's  interest  in  the 
newspapers  which  the  Rogers  post  office  added 
to  those  which  he  had  access  to  in  the  Salem 
office. 

The  two  offices  were  on  different  post  routes, 
making  their  delivery  of  mail  on  different  dates, — 
one  week  and  sometimes  two  between  trips.  The 
Rogers  office  east  of  the  Sangamon  River  was 
the  route  from  St.  Louis  via  Springfield,  Peoria, 
Chicago,  and  via  the  lakes  east;  the  Salem  route 
on  the  west  of  the  river  being  via  St.  Louis,  Spring 
field,  Havana,  Rock  Island,  etc.  The  different 
days  of  mail  arrivals,  and  their  different  destina 
tions,  caused  Lincoln  to  come  to  my  grandfather's 
of tener.  He  came  to  bring  letters  there  to  mail  for 
going  East  or  to  read  the  eastern  papers  at  the 
Rogers  post  office;  often  bringing  with  him  from 
the  Salem  office  a  St.  Louis  or  New  Orleans  news 
paper  or  two  for  the  Rogers  family  to  read;  and 


And  Ann  Rutledge  67 

when  the  carrier  was  belated, — which  often  oc 
curred, — staying  all  night. 

Postal  patrons  were  few  and  lived  from  five  to 
twenty  miles  or  more  from  their  nearest  post 
office,  leaving  their  mail  uncalled  for  weeks  at  a 
time  and,  with  first  settlers'  generosity,  permitting 
free  reading  of  their  papers  by  any  one,  while 
awaiting  their  call  at  the  post  office.  Besides  this 
postal  and  book-borrowing  attraction  for  Lincoln 
at  the  Rogers  home,  there  was  another.  My 
mother's  oldest  brother  had  made  several  trips 
down  the  Mississippi,  spending  a  couple  of  years 
in  the  Gulf  states,  having  invested  in  Louisiana 
lands  with  the  intention  of  permanently  settling 
in  the  South.  Lincoln's  two  trips  down  the  river 
inspired  a  degree  of  comradeship  between  them. 
Also  the  two  other  brothers,  nearer  Lincoln's  age, 
were  reading  medical  books  during  vacation,  under 
the  tutoring  of  Dr.'Gershom  Jayne, — father  of  the 
present  venerable  Dr.  William  Jayne  of  Spring 
field, — and  attending  the  medical  college  in 
Cincinnati  during  the  fall  and  winter.  The  educa 
tional  advantages  these  young  men  had  had  at 
Cooperstown,  New  York,  the  books  their  home 
furnished,  and  the  medical  studies  they  were  pur 
suing  appealed  to  Lincoln's  social  and  intellectual 
life  and  made  his  visits  at  Colonel  Rogers's  home 


68  Abraham  Lincoln 

mutually  agreeable,  and  much  more  frequent  than 
they  would  otherwise  have  been.  The  stalwart 
young  Kentuckian  and  the  three  or  four  Yankee 
student  boys,  were  mutual  revelations  and  inspira 
tions  to  each  other. 

The  Rogers  and  Rutledge  families  on  the  arrival 
of  the  latter  from  the  South,  first  at  Salem,  then 
on  their  farm  seven  miles  north-west  of  Salem, 
became  visiting  friends;  and  although  the  farm 
homes  were  sixteen  miles  apart,  this  was  then 
only  a  neighbourly  distance  and  their  cabins  be 
came  places  where  church  services  were  held  al 
ternately,  whenever  appointments  by  itinerant 
preachers  could  be  procured.  Thus  a  warm 
friendship  began  between  Ann  Rutledge  and  my 
mother.  Arminda  Rogers.  The  latter  was  nearly 
ten  years  older  than  Miss  Rutledge  and  had 
taught  school  several  terms  before  they  met. 
Later  she  tutored  the  young  girl  in  Blair's  Rhetoric, 
Kirkham's  Grammar  and  the  elementary  studies 
she  was  reviewing,  preparatory  to  entering  an 
academy  for  young  ladies  that  had  been  opened  at 
Jacksonville,  Illinois. 

Through  this  intimacy,  and  the  acquaintance 
the  Rogers  household  had  with  both  McNeil 
(later  McNamar)  and  Lincoln,  my  mother  learned 


And  Ann  Rutledge  69 

of  the  engagement  of  Miss  Rutledge  to  McNamar; 
his  going  East;  his  protracted  silence  and  long- 
continued  absence,  and  the  later  attraction  and 
attentions  of  Lincoln  to  Ann  Rutledge.  All  these 
quite  naturally  were,  more  or  less,  disclosed  to  my 
mother;  thus  making  her  all  the  more  interested 
in  her  young  friend  and  scholar  up  to  the  time  of 
Ann  Rutledge's  death,  August  25,  1835. 

Of  McNamar's  personality,  I  can  write  from 
my  own  knowledge.  I  knew  him  the  last  ten  or 
twelve  years  of  his  life  as  intimately  as  any  young 
man  could  know  an  elderly  gentleman  of  so  cold 
and  unsocial  a  nature  as  his.  I  respected  and 
admired  him  both  for  his  ability  as  an  accountant 
and  as  a  skillful  examiner  of  land  titles,  in  both  of 
which  I  was  much  interested  at  the  time. 

McNamar's  marriage  the  year  after  his  return 
to  Salem  showed  he  was  not  inconsolably  grieved 
by  the  early  death  of  the  good  and  charming  Ann 
Rutledge.  I  did  not  know  his  first  wife  who 
afforded  such  early  consolation,  but  I  knew  the 
second.  She  was  a  widow  at  the  time  of  their 
marriage,  in  all  ways  a  most  estimable  woman, 
and  survived  McNamar  several  years.  She  told 
me  that  in  all  the  years  of  their  married  life, 
though  he  was  courteous  and  attentive  and  a  good 


70  Abraham  Lincoln 

provider,  there  was  no  more  poetry  or  sentiment  in 
him  than  in  the  multiplication  table,  and  that  she 
really  never  became  acquainted  with  him. 

He  was  frequently  at  my  father's  home  on 
political  and  business  matters  of  mutual  interest 
and  often  a  guest  over  night.  I  recall  my  being 
inquisitive  enough  at  the  time  to  ask  my  mother 
if  his  cold  and  unsocial  nature  in  old  age  was 
characteristic  of  him  when  he  was  the  efficient  and 
successful  business  partner  of  Samuel  Hill  at 
Salem  and  had  there  become  engaged  to  Ann 
Rutledge.  She  assured  me  that  age  had  mellowed 
and  not  hardened  the  man's  nature  and  that  his 
social  side  had  not  been  chilled  by  lapse  of  time 
or  disappointment  in  love.  She  was  at  a  loss  to 
understand,  when  in  1866  she  read  Herndon's 
Ann  Rutledge  lecture,  the  sentimental  moods  of 
McNamar  that  Herndon  therein  described;  and 
later,  in  1889,  reading  in  his  life  of  Lincoln  of  the 
interview  he  reported  having  had  with  McNamar 
in  his  home  near  the  spot  where  Ann  Rutledge 
died,  she  was  even  more  surprised.  McNamar  was 
married  to  his  second  wife  at  the  time  Herndon 
had  the  interview. 

As  to  how  the  engagement  of  Miss  Rutledge  to 
Lincoln  came  about,  or  how  long  after  McNamar's 
absence  and  his  neglect  in  writing  to  her,  my 


And  Ann  Rutledge  71 

mother's  knowledge  was  indefinite.  She  said  that 
in  the  latter  part  of  1834,  when  she  saw  the  two 
young  people  together,  there  was  an  increasing 
interest  between  them.  This  increased  from  time 
to  time  so  that  it  was  apparent  to  her  that  Miss 
Rutledge  was  passing  out  of  and  above  the  de 
pression  and  anxiety  she  had  shown  over  Mc- 
Namar's  absence  and  neglect,  and  that  there  was 
a  new  love  coming  into  her  life,  which  found  there 
a  response  and  called  forth  attractions  she  had 
never  noticed  in  her  while  McNamar  was  the 
favoured  suitor. 

The  friends  both  within  and  without  her  own 
family,  with  whom  Miss  Rutledge  had  shared  her 
perplexities,  favoured  Lincoln's  suit  for  her  hand, 
and  by  their  expressed  opinions  contributed  to  the 
indignation  that  reluctantly  she  began  to  feel 
toward  McNamar.  This  feeling  grew  until  at 
length  freely,  fully,  and  without  any  of  those  vio 
lent  neurasthenic  agonies  that  have  been  sketched 
into  her  life  in  later  years,  she  unreservedly  gave 
him  up  and  consented  to  the  suit  Abraham  Lin 
coln  had  for  several  months  pressed  with  her  to 
become  his  wife  at  some  future  time,  when  her 
education  should  be  finished  and  he  should  be 
come  established  in  his  profession.  My  mother 
said  she  was  not  told  by  the  young  girl,  at  the 


72  Abraham  Lincoln 

first,  of  this  decision  and  of  her  acceptance  of 
Lincoln,  but  that  she  felt  assured  of  it  by  the 
increasing  interest  she  took  in  her  studies  through 
the  spring  and  summer  of  1835,  and  by  the  buoy 
ancy  of  her  spirits  as  she  talked  about  going  to 
Jacksonville  in  the  early  autumn  to  enter  the 
ladies'  academy  there. 

In  the  early  summer,  having  finished  the  studies 
through  which  my  mother  had  tutored  her,  she 
then  fully  confided  to  mother  the  secret  of  the 
new  light  that  had  come  into  her  life,  and  talked 
freely  of  the  absence  and  neglect  of  McNamar, 
acknowledging  that  her  own  judgment  and  heart 
at  length  approved  the  advice  of  both  her  own 
family  and  the  few  friends  to  whom  she  had  con 
fided  the  perplexities  through  which  she  had  for 
months  been  passing.  My  mother  said  that  in  the 
conversation  with  her  she  manifested  no  regret  or 
wavering  in  the  choice  she  had  made.  On  the 
contrary,  there  was  a  decided  spirit  of  offended 
maidenly  dignity  manifested  in  all  the  references 
she  made  to  McNamar, — such,  my  mother  said,  as 
could  be  expected  of  a  well-bred  southern  girl  under 
circumstances  showing  such  unaccountable  neglect. 

The  spring  and  early  summer  of  1835,  I  have 
been  told,  was  a  time  of  unusually  large  rainfall 


And  Ann  Rutledge  73 

and  high  temperature  in  central  Illinois.  By 
July  the  rains  ceased  and  extreme  heat  dried  up 
and  parched  the  luxurious  vegetation  of  earlier 
growth,  and  chills  and  fever  and  what  the  earlier 
physicians  named  "bilious  fever"  became  un 
usually  prevalent.  In  every  home  some  member 
was  stricken  down,  and  in  most  homes  all  the 
family  were  ill  at  the  same  time.  Treatment  of 
these  malarial  diseases  was  very  crude  and  drastic 
at  that  time.  Heroic  doses  of  medicine  were 
administered, — often  more  fatal  than  the  disease, 
— killing  a  person  of  frail  physique  instead  of 
effecting  a  cure.  The  Rutledge  family  were  among 
the  unfortunate  many  who  suffered.  Ann  was 
among  the  last  to  be  stricken.  Lincoln  had  been  a 
frequent  visitor  and  assistant  in  nursing  at  the 
Rutledge  home  during  their  sickness, — going 
over  from  Salem  with  Dr.  John  Allen,  the  physi 
cian,  every  day  or  two.  He  would  stay  over  night 
when  needed,  or  return  with  the  Doctor  who  would 
stop  for  him  after  visiting  the  other  patients  in 
that  neighbourhood.  At  length,  toward  the  end 
of  August,  Miss  Rutledge's  condition  passed 
beyond  the  help  of  physicians  and  nurses  and  the 
delirium  of  her  last  few  days — common  in  the 
fatal  cases  of  those  malarial  fevers — brought  an 
end  to  her  life  on  August  25,  1835. 


74  Abraham  Lincoln 

For  a  month  or  more  before,  Lincoln  himself, — 
with  all  the  physical  vigour  he  the'n  possessed  and 
preserved  until  that  fatal  bullet  ended  his  life,— 
had  been  suffering  from  the  chills  and  fever  on 
alternate  days.  He  kept  up  and  was  helping  nurse 
others  all  the  while,  but  was  taking  heroic  doses 
of  Peruvian  bark,  boneset  tea,  jalap  and  calomel. 
Added  to  the  depression  of  Lincoln  from  illness  in 
those  days,  was  that  from  the  death  of  several  of 
his  personal  friends,  and  the  neighbourly  aid  he 
had  given  unstintingly  at  the  funerals  and  burials 
of  those  who  died.  There  were  no  undertakers. 
No  caskets  were  kept  on  hand.  Coffins  had  to  be 
made  after  the  death ;  and  in  a  few  instances  he  had 
assisted  in  making  them  for  his  friends.  In  this 
environment  of  distress  that  he  was  day  and  night 
helping  to  relieve,  in  addition  to  the  poisonous 
malaria  that  had  been  for  weeks  alternately  chill 
ing  and  burning  his  stalwart  frame,  he  was  now 
to  endure  the  supreme  tragedy  of  his  life  in  the 
death  of  Ann  Rutledge. 

It  is  difficult  for  me  to  tell  in  this  cold  type  the 
pitiful  story,  clad  in  the  simple  home-life  details 
in  which  it  came  to  me  from  those  who  knew  Ann 
Rutledge  and  Abraham  Lincoln  both  before  and 
after  her  death,  and  who  were  amid  the  same  sad 


And  Ann  Rutledge  75 

afflictions.  There  is  need  of  no  fancy  or  imagery 
to  put  colour  in  the  environment  within,  or  without 
the  life  of  Abraham  Lincoln  or  Ann  Rutledge 
while  the  story  of  the  days  leading  up  through 
August  to  its  fateful  twenty-fifth  is  told.  When 
such  an  experience  comes  into  life, — as  this  came 
into  Lincoln's,  when  the  nearest  and  dearest  one 
had  come  with  him  into  the  light  of  mutual  love 
and  joy  in  the  hopeful  dawn  of  life's  morning,  only 
to  release  the  hand  of  plighted  faith  and  drift  away 
out  on  the  mysterious  sea  of  death  whose  pitiless 
waves  beat  so  sadly  around  the  world; — when  such 
an  hour  comes,  it  either  overwhelms  with  despair 
those  who  remain,  or  nerves  them  to  endure  and  in 
spires  with  a  power  to  grasp  life's  higher  problems 
anew  with  closer,  surer  grip  than  ever  before,  and 
thereafter  face  with  clear  vision  and  high  purpose  all 
the  missions  and  disciplines  that  open  before  them. 
To  Lincoln  it  brought  the  dawn  of  a  new  and 
ennobled  manhood.  He  found  no  shadows  suf 
ficiently  gloomy  or  depressing  to  darken  his  life 
after  that  of  August  25,  1835.  It  made  a  man — 
spiritually — of  him  who,  self-satisfied  before,  had 
lived  only  within  the  horizon  of  the  present. 

The  personal  influence  of  Dr.  John  Allen  on 
Lincoln  and  their  mutual  attraction  to  each  other 


76  Abraham  Lincoln 

at  this  important  period,  when  he  was  under  such 
great  physical  suffering  and  mental  distress, 
makes  some  mention  of  the  doctor's  character 
appropriate,  before  passing  on  with  Lincoln  into 
the  days  succeeding  Miss  Rutledge's  death.  His 
qualifications  as  a  medical  practitioner  placed 
him  in  the  front  with  such  doctors  as  Gershom 
Jayne  of  Springfield,  and  Prince  of  Jacksonville, 
with  whom  he  was  often  called  in  consultation. 
In  the  practice  of  his  profession  he  had  some 
peculiarities.  He  was  a  physician  of  souls  as  well 
as  sick  bodies.  He  saw  both  together.  On  many 
subjects  he  had  a  clarity  of  vision  far  in  advance 
of  his  time.  He  limited  his  Sunday  visiting  to 
those  patients  only  whose  condition  indicated  that 
his  presence  was  imperatively  needed.  He  con 
sidered  the  patient's  needs,  not  his  own  ease.  He 
responded  to  every  new  call  that  came  to  him 
on  Sunday;  but  all  Sunday  patients,  new  or  old, 
that  he  visited,  were  listed  separately  and  their 
payments  applied  strictly  to  church  and  benevolent 
uses.  All  women  working  in  domestic  service,  or 
dependent  upon  their  own  labour,  he  charged  only 
for  medicine  used,  and  this  rule  he  applied  to  all 
who  were  financially  embarrassed,  as  not  in 
frequently  was  the  case  among  the  new  settlers 
whose  families  besides  their  many  privations 


And  Ann  Rutledge  77 

often  suffered  protracted  illness.  Years  after, 
some  of  these  became  prosperous  and  insisted 
upon  paying  for  those  generous  professional 
services. 

He  was  a  devoted  member  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  I  recall  from  the  memories  of  my 
boyhood  years  when  I  attended  the  same  church 
in  Petersburg  in  which  the  Doctor  was  an  elder, 
that  if  he  had  not  received  a  professional  call 
before  the  meeting  began  he  was  punctually  in  his 
seat  at  the  stated  hours  of  service,  always  with  his 
large  old-style,  double-pocketed  medicine  saddle 
bags  with  him  which  he  placed  at  the  end  of  his 
pew,  ready  to  respond  at  once  to  any  call  that 
might  come  during  church  service.  He  came  to 
church  usually  in  his  gig,  or  on  horseback,  so  that 
he  might  not  be  delayed  in  starting  out  on  any  call 
to  relieve  distress.  In  the  skill  and  thoroughness 
of  his  collections,  and  in  his  adaptation  to  the 
peculiar  business  condition  of  the  country,  he  was 
not  less  marked  and  successful.  Finding  how 
scarce  money  was  among  the  early  settlers,  and  the 
absence  of  a  market  for  nearly  all  of  their  products, 
he  erected  a  large  smoke-house  and  prepared  for 
handling  pork  during  the  winter  months,  accept 
ing  dressed  hogs  at  market  price  as  payment  from 
any  of  his  debtors.  These  he  had  cut  up  and 


78  Abraham  Lincoln 

converted  into  lard  and  bacon,  and,  when  properly 
cured,  he  sent  the  product  by  oxen  teams  to 
Beardstown  to  be  forwarded  by  boat  to  St.  Louis 
and  New  Orleans. 

The  most  unpopular  of  the  doctor's  characteris 
tics  were  his  strong  anti-slavery  principles  and  his 
devotion  to  the  cause  of  temperance.  He  also 
met  with  no  little  opposition  in  establishing  the 
first  Sunday-schools  in  his  and  other  churches. 
He  introduced  the  first  public  protest  against  the 
general  drink  habits  by  promoting  in  the  com 
munity  the  organization  of  the  Washingtonian 
Society  with  its  pledge  of  total  abstinence.  All 
other  peculiarities  of  Dr.  Allen  could  have  been 
condoned  by  the  great  majority  of  these  early 
settlers  more  easily  than  his  crusade  against  the 
drink  habit.  One  of  Dr.  Allen's  associates  in  the 
temperance  crusade  was  the  Cumberland  Presby 
terian  preacher,  John  Berry.  It  was  his  son  who 
was  Lincoln's  partner  in  the  store  at  Salem  and 
whose  unfortunate  habit  of  drinking  brought  so 
great  a  disaster  upon  the  business  that  it  was  not 
until  1850  that  Lincoln  was  able  to  pay  the  last 
debt  of  the  firm. 

Menter  Graham,  the  school-teacher,  who  until 
then  had  been  a  member  of  what  was  called  the 
"Hard-shell  Baptist  Church,"  joined  this  reform 


And  Ann  Rutledge  79 

movement.  For  this  he  was  unanimously  sus 
pended  from  that  church  at  a  meeting  called  to 
consider  the  temperance  agitation.  To  preserve 
the  judicial  balance  that  the  church  thought  proper 
on  this  subject,  the  same  meeting  dismissed  from 
their  connection  another  member  who  had  got 
"dead  drunk."  This  led  an  inquisitive  member 
who  was  present  to  take  exception  to  the  proceed 
ings,  and  to  call  for  some  more  definite  rule  for 
the  guidance  of  the  church  members  in  the  future. 
He  rose  from  his  seat,  took  from  his  pocket  a 
quart  bottle  that  was  about  half-full,  shook  its 
contents  into  active  sparkling  bubbles,  and  in  the 
peculiar  nasal  drawl  the  Hard-Shell  Baptists  were 
wont  to  adopt  in  their  meeting-house  talks,  said: 
"Brethering,  you  have  turned  one  member  out 
beca'se  he  would  not  drink,  and  another  beca'se 
he  got  drunk,  and  now  I  want  to  aks  a  question: 
How  much  of  this  'ere  critter  does  one  have  to 
drink  to  remain  in  full  fellership  in  this  Church?" 

Mentioning  Parson  Berry  in  connection  with 
Dr.  Allen's  crusade  on  the  drink  habit,  calls  to 
mind  an  event  that  occurred  many  years  later  in 
connection  with  Lincoln  and  Berry,  illustrating 
how  lasting  were  the  impressions  Lincoln  ac 
knowledged  he  had  received  while  at  Salem.  Years 


8o  Abraham  Lincoln 

after  Lincoln  had  left  Salem  and  had  attained 
eminence  in  the  legal  profession,  a  grog-shop  in  a 
certain  community  was  having  a  bad  influence 
upon  some  married  men  whose  wives  consequently 
suffered  from  the  evil.  These  injured  women,  with 
some  of  their  influential  lady  friends,  came  to 
gether  and  made  a  raid  on  the  infamous  den, 
demolishing  the  barrels,  breaking  the  decanters 
and  demijohns  and  playing  havoc  with  its  fur 
nishings  generally.  The  ladies  were  prosecuted 
and  Lincoln  volunteered  his  services  in  their  defence. 
In  the  midst  of  his  powerful  appeals  to  the  jury 
in  their  behalf,  and  his  attack  upon  the  evils  of  the 
traffic  and  use  of  intoxicating  spirits,  the  speaker 
turned  and,  pointing  his  long,  bony  finger  towards 
the  venerable  Parson  Berry  who  was  among  those 
present,  exclaimed: 

"There  stands  the  man  who,  years  ago,  was 
instrumental  in  convincing  me  of  the  evils  of 
trafficking  in  and  using  ardent  spirits.  I  am  glad 
I  ever  saw  him.  I  am  glad  I  ever  heard  and  heeded 
his  testimony  on  this  terrible  subject." 

The  reader  who  has  followed  me  in  description 
of  the  character  of  Dr.  John  Allen,  and  has  properly 
fixed  in  his  mind  the  real  Abraham  Lincoln  at 
Salem, — not  the  caricature  of  him  there,  as  so 


And  Ann  Rutledge  81 

many  have  misrepresented  him, — will  appreciate 
the  measure  of  influence  that  Dr.  Allen  was  able 
to  exert  on  Lincoln  in  the  susceptible  condition 
induced  by  his  physical  weakness  and  mental 
distress  after  the  death  of  Ann  Rutledge.  No 
physician  could  have  been  better  qualified  tem 
peramentally  than  was  Dr.  Allen  to  treat  Lincoln's 
condition  wisely.  He  saw  the  two-fold  ailment  of 
the  young  man.  He  had  a  clearness  of  professional 
vision,  far  in  advance  of  that  time,  of  some  things 
even  beyond  what  we  have  seen  at  present  in  this 
self-confident  century.  He  had  the  Yankee  "fac 
ulty"  of  doing  the  right  thing,  at  the  right  time, 
and  in  the  right  way. 

First,  he  took  both  professional  and  personal 
charge  of  Lincoln,  who  was  physically  worn  out 
with  overwork  and  anxiety  day  and  night  for  so 
many  anxious  weeks.  His  distress  by  deaths 
among  his  friends;  his  own  protracted  illness  from 
relapses  of  the  chills  and  fever  that  became  all  the 
more  difficult  to  arrest  with  him  because  of  their 
repeated  recurrences  under  neglected  medication 
and  such  continuous  overwork,  all  combined,  had 
made  a  seriously  sick  man  of  him.  He  prevailed 
on  Lincoln  to  go  out  to  the  quiet  home  of  Bowling 
Greene  and  remain  there  under  his  medical  atten 
tion  and  in  Mrs.  Greene's  care  to  administer  the 

6 


82  Abraham  Lincoln 

prescribed  courses  of  medicine,  until  he  should 
pass  three  consecutive  weeks  free  from  chills. 
He  knew  the  motherly  care  Mrs.  Greene  would 
bestow  in  the  meanwhile,  and  the  quiet  of  that 
farm  home  at  the  foot  of  the  oak-timbered  bluff 
rising  abruptly  behind  the  yard  and  orchards. 
This  was  the  rest-cure  refuge  for  body  and  soul 
that  Lincoln  so  greatly  needed.  It  was  cheerfully, 
gladly  given  by  both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Greene. 

How  quiet  and  refreshing  that  home,  how 
motherly  and  hospitable  a  welcome  Mrs.  Greene 
gave  him  and  all  who  came  to  her  home,  I  know 
personally.  I  recall  the  times,  years  later,  when 
fishing  and  nutting  excursions,  on  Saturdays  or 
school  vacations,  were  made  by  a  half-dozen  or 
more  of  us  Petersburg  boys.  We  would  trail  up 
the  Sangamon  with  our  fishing  rods,  until  opposite 
the  Bowling  Greene  home,  where  we  were  always 
sure  to  skip  across  the  river-bottom  for  Mrs. 
Greene's  hospitable  home  welcome,  and  there  we 
would  fry  our  fish  at  the  open  fireplace  on  the 
kitchen  hearth.  Or,  when  we  scampered  over  the 
hills  back  of  old  Salem  nutting  in  the  fall,  we 
would  come  trooping  down  the  bluff  behind  Mrs. 
Bowling  Greene's  and  into  her  big  homey  kitchen, 
with  such  voracious  appetites  for  her  hot  biscuit 


And  Ann  Rutledge  83 

smothered  in  butter  and  honey,  her  doughnuts  and 
cookies,  buttermilk,  apples,  and  sweet  cider!  Ah, 
I  know  as  I  look  back  more  than  half  a  century 
through  the  fruitful  fields  of  my  Salem  memories, 
there  could  have  been  no  better  place  this  side  of 
the  celestial  country  for  Lincoln  during  those 
September  days  of  1835,  than  the  Bowling  Greene 
home. 

You  worked  for  the  ages,  you  followed  the 
Master's  plan  of  "doing  what  you  could,"  oh, 
wise  Dr.  Allen!  Most  motherly  of  nurses,  dear 
est  Mrs.  Greene,  whose  warm  welcome  and  wise 
silence,  as  you  went  quietly  about  your  housework 
those  three  weeks,  were  a  blessed  balm  to  body  and 
spirit  of  the  stricken  sick  man  in  those  hours  of 
healing  and  of  his  readjustment  to  the  new  sad 
outlook  of  his  life. 

In  1865  a  similar  climatic  condition  of  malaria 
prevailed  in  Illinois,  caused  by  large  rainfalls  and 
protracted  heat  during  the  latter  part  of  the 
summer.  It  was  the  summer  following  the 
assassination  of  President  Lincoln,  and  many  of 
the  residents  of  that  vicinity  in  1835  were  yet 
living.  They  often  remarked  upon  the  malarial 
condition  and  the  type  of  illness  then  prevalent  as 
resembling  those  of  thirty  years  before.  It  was 


84  Abraham  Lincoln 

their  repeated  mention  of  the  similarity  of  malarial 
conditions  and  the  fact  of  Lincoln's  death  a  few 
months  before,  which  caused  me  to  inquire  into 
the  details,  here  recorded,  that  were  so  intimately 
connected  with  Lincoln's  life  at  Salem  in  1835. 

As  the  word  "insanity"  has  been  used  as  de 
scriptive  of  Lincoln's  life  shortly  after  the  death  of 
Ann  Rutledge,  I  have  dwelt  with  more  fulness  in 
recital  of  these  events  of  1835  than  I  otherwise 
would  have  considered  necessary.  The  assertion 
that  Miss  Rutledge's  death  was  hastened,  if  not 
caused,  by  perplexing  griefs  through  which  she  was 
passing  in  consequence  of  the  breaking  of  her 
engagement  to  McNamar,  and  the  pleading  of  a 
later  love  and  the  consent  she  had  given  in  it  to 
wed  Mr.  Lincoln,  had  no  foundation  whatever  in 
fact,  and  merits  none  of  the  fanciful  considerations 
it  has  received. 

McNamar  was  a  just  man.  Had  he  returned 
before  her  death  he  would  have  released  Miss 
Rutledge  from  her  promise  to  him.  He  was  as 
honest  and  exact  as  the  multiplication  table,  and 
he  well  knew  that  his  prolonged  and  unexplained 
absence  had  inflicted  a  mortal  blow  upon  Miss 
Rutledge's  confidence  and  affection  for  him.  She 
could  never  have  trusted  him  again  and  he  would 
not  have  expected  her  to  do  so.  That  her  trust  and 


And  Ann  Rutledge  85 

love  for  him  had  died,  by  his  own  neglect,  none 
would  have  admitted  more  freely  or  generously 
than  the  cold  mathematical  McNamar. 

A  greater  love  had  come  into  her  life;  and  while 
its  fulness  was  soon  to  be  denied  by  death,  her 
last  conscious  hours  were  not  those  of  conflicts 
between  an  old  duty  and  this  new  love.  They 
were  lit  by  her  unclouded  affection  for,  and  in 
the  presence  of,  the  great  soul  who,  by  her  request, 
was  near  her  during  her  last  conscious  moments. 
Their  last  words  at  parting, — given  to  each  other 
alone — were  too  sacred  for  others,  and  should  have 
ever  remained  so.  As  though  Lincoln's  personal 
grief  were  not  enough,  there  has  been  written  since 
his  death — into  certain  fictional  biography — by 
some  the  implied  charge,  by  others  the  positive 
assertion,  that  his  life  was  darkened  by  the  sha 
dows  of  ''insanity,"  following  Miss  Rutledge's 
death.  This  is  utterly  unsupported  by  any  facts 
or  circumstances  transpiring  in  1835. 

I  am  sure  that  neither  the  memory  of  this  good 
and  beautiful  girl  nor  of  the  martyred  President, 
needs  vindication  by  any  words  of  mine.  The 
womanly  character  and  integrity  of  Ann  Rutledge 
have  been  deeply  impressed  upon  me  as  they  were 
enshrined  in  the  memory  of  those  who  knew  her 


86  Abraham  Lincoln 

most  intimately.  They  have  tpld  me  how  they 
revered  her  womanly  dignity,  as  well  as  her  beauty 
in  form  and  feature,  and  how  they  knew  by  hearing 
from  her  own  lips  the  unreserved  and  unclouded 
love  she  had  given;  and  that  it  was  as  unreservedly 
sought  and  accepted  by  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Far  less  is  there  need  to  disprove  the  "three 
weeks'  insanity"  charge,  made  after  Lincoln's 
death.  The  matchless  vigour,  poise,  and  clearness 
of  mind  of  our  First  American,  lifts  him  far  above 
the  taint  of  "insanity"  at  any  period  of  his  life, 
much  more  in  the  years  of  his  vigorous  young 
manhood.  In  later  life  his  well-known  capacity 
for  endurance  amid  disheartening  political  experi 
ences  under  the  immense  strain  of  those  executive 
and  military  crises  of  his  Presidential  years  that 
were  so  harassing  and  so  appalling,  is  the  sufficient 
answer  to  all  these  baseless  insinuations.  Through 
all  his  life  he  maintained  a  balanced  mind  and 
tranquil  spirit.  In  all  the  annals  of  time,  history 
does  not  record  a  superior,  save  Him  who  calmly 
spake  to  the  wild  waves  of  storm-swept  Galilee 
those  words  of  power, — "Peace,  be  still,"  and  to 
the  mob, — "Father,  forgive,  they  know  not 
what  they  do."  Justly  did  Tolstoi  speak  of 
him,  and  his  life,  as  next  to  that  of  the  Saviour  of 
mankind. 


And  Ann  Rutledge  87 

In  less  than  a  month — in  three  weeks — Lincoln 
returned  to  his  usual  affairs  at  Salem  and  resumed 
his  surveying  tramps  wherever  they  were  called 
for.  He  used  such  spare  time  as  his  occupations 
afforded  by  reading  law  with  the  definite  inten 
tion  of  entering  that  profession.  The  purposeful 
steadfastness  maintained  by  Lincoln  throughout 
the  period  spent  at  Salem  in  preparation  for  future 
promotion  cannot  fail  to  impress  all  who  carefully 
trace  the  records  of  those  years.  To  a  young  man 
of  his  vigorous  physical  strength,  with  a  mind 
bubbling  over  with  wit  and  humour  and  abounding 
animal  spirits,  in  such  a  community,  the  tempta 
tions  were  certainly  great.  The  affairs  in  which 
he  was  connected  required  his  mixing  daily  with 
the  rudest  class  of  frontier  men  and  women  on  their 
own  plane  and  views  of  life.  This  he  did  without 
sharing  their  lower  views  or  becoming  at  one  with 
them  in  joining  with  their  excesses.  On  the  con 
trary,  he  maintained  his  own  individuality  with 
dignity,  and  secured  the  respect  of  all  and  lasting 
love  with  most  of  them. 

i  What  was  even  more  unusual  amid  such  asso 
ciations,  he  himself  was  always  seeking  outside  his 
daily  pursuits  the  better  class,  and  thus  enjoyed 
at  the  same  time  close  and  lasting  friendships  with 
the  best  people  around  Salem.  Besides  those 


88  Abraham  Lincoln 

mentioned  by  me  elsewhere  more  particularly, 
there  were  others  of  whom  space  forbids  extended 
mention.  Among  these  were  the  Greene,  the 
Graham,  the  Hill,  the  Short,  and  the  Godbey 
families;  as  well  as  many  later  Springfield  friends 
of  culture,  all  of  whom  were  equally  attracted  to 
him  as  he  to  them,  before  he  made  Springfield  his 
home.  Among  both  men  and  women,  in  every 
community  in  which  he  lived,  he  sought  and  was 
influenced  by  the  best  people;  and  where  circum 
stances  required  association  with  the  worst,  his 
character  contracted  no  stain. 

Lincoln's  closest  application  to  both  business 
and  books  at  Salem  was  during  the  two  years 
following  Miss  Rutledge's  death.  This  was  the 
testimony  of  those  who  knew  him  at  that  time. 
His  life  began  reaching  out  on  a  larger  range.  He 
made  frequent  trips  to  Springfield,  becoming  more 
interested  in  the  people  and  life  there,  and  two 
years  later,  March,  1837,  he  was  invited  by  Major 
John  T.  Stuart  to  come  to  Springfield  as  his  law 
partner. 

When  I  first  thought  of  putting  in  writing  my 
recollections  of  Lincoln,  I  requested  Mrs.  Annie 
M.  Fleury,  the  daughter  of  William  H.  Herndon, 
to  look  through  her  father's  papers  and  letters 


And  Ann  Rutledge  89 

which  she  had  in  her  possession,  to  find  some  of 
my  correspondence  with  him.  I  recall  my  writing 
often  and  quite  fully  to  him  from  time  to  time,  at 
his  request,  concerning  the  general  outlines  to  be 
adopted  in  his  life  of  Lincoln,  which  he  had  not 
fully  decided  on  in  1866.  At  that  time  I  was 
especially  anxious  that  he  should  avoid  those 
sensational  and  debatable  features  for  which 
afterwards  in  collaboration  with  others,  he  unfor 
tunately  became  sponsor,  in  two  publications  of 
joint  authorship,  issued,  one  in  1872,  and  the  other 
in  1889. 

It  is  with  painful  regret  and  reluctance  that  I 
refer  to  Mr.  Herndon's  participation  in  certain 
portions  of  those  unfortunate  publications.  If 
it  were  possible,  I  would  write  in  an  entirely  im 
personal  manner,  so  far  as  he  had  any  connection 
with  the  sensational  features  in  those  lives  of 
Lincoln.  I  have  given  elsewhere  in  my  recollec 
tions  of  the  office  life  of  Lincoln  and  Herndon, 
from  1850  to  1 86 1,  full  and  hearty  recognition  of 
Herndon's  influence  and  helpful  services  to  Lincoln. 
He  was  abundantly  deserving  of  all  I  have  written 
there  of  his  fidelity  and  efficient  service  in  those 
years.  By  temperament,  by  local  prejudices  and 
social  antagonisms  of  long  standing  in  Springfield; 
by  the  effects  of  early  habits, — overcome  while  he 


90  Abraham  Lincoln 

was  a  partner  with  Lincoln,  but  resumed  after 
1870  and  with  the  unfortunate  effects  of  a  use  of 
morphine ;  by  pet  theories  regarding  ancestry  and 
heredity,  and  most  especially  by  his  extreme 
erratic  and  changing  views  on  theological  and 
religious  subjects;  Herndon  was  rendered  less  com 
petent  to  write  a  satisfactory  biography  of  Lin 
coln.  In  addition  to  these  prejudices,  at  times  all 
these  would  be  emphasized  by  his  peculiarly  lurid 
and  egotistic  rhetoric  (pardonable  with  those  who 
knew  him)  that  rendered  him  less  competent  to 
reflect  adequately  Mr.  Lincoln's  life  and  character 
with  the  fair  and  impartial  treatment  that  the 
history  of  so  great  a  life  as  Abraham  Lincoln's 
demanded.  In  Herndon's  testimony  of  what  he 
himself  saw  and  knew  about  Lincoln's  life  he  was 
generally  reliable.  With  regard  to  second-  and 
third-hand  evidence,  when  presented  by  him,  he 
could  not  refrain  from  drawing  on  his  imagination 
for  colouring  to  suit  the  conclusions  already  formed. 
It  was  to  obtain  the  situation  and  views  as 
presented  by  me  to  Mr.  Herndon  at  the  time 
immediately  preceding  his  writing  Lincoln's  life, 
that  I  wished  to  get  my  letters,  written  to  Mr. 
Herndon  in  the  years  following  Lincoln's  death. 
Mrs.  Fleury,  as  I  have  said,  went  through  all  her 
father's  papers  and  letters  that  she  had  not  parted 


And  Ann  Rutledge  91 

with,  but  found  only  one  of  mine  left  among  them. 
She  kindly  returned  it  to  me.  This  letter  was 
written  by  me  to  Mr.  Herndon  forty-nine  years 
ago,  just  after  I  had  for  the  first  time  read  his 
lecture  on  Lincoln  and  Ann  Rutledge.  I  greatly 
regret  that  I  kept  no  copies  of  my  correspondence 
at  that  time,  nor  preserved  those  written  to  me. 
With  what  I  have  already  written  in  these  pages, 
this  letter,  which  I  give  in  full,  will  show  that  my 
forebodings  of  so  many  years  ago  were  not  ground 
less.  When  this  letter  was  penned  I  had  not  given 
the  Ann  Rutledge  period  in  Lincoln's  life  the 
extensive  inquiry  I  did  afterwards,  with  the  results 
reproduced  here.  My  letter  was  as  follows : 

ATHENS,  MENARD  Co.,  ILLS., 

Dec.  24,  1866. 
FRIEND  HERNDON: — 

You  told  father,  when  we  were  last  in  Springfield, 
you  wanted  me  to  call  up  if  only  for  five  minutes.  He 
did  not  see  me  until  we  were  starting  home.  I  prom 
ised  previously  to  write  to  you.  I  will  do  so  now. 

When  I  got  home  I  carefully  read  your  lecture — 
reading  then  as  I  have  since  tried  to  weigh  it, — not  as 
a  baby  of  W.  H.  H.'s,  but  as  a  part  of  what  I,  with  all 
other  men,  desire  it  should  be, — a  part  of  the  portrait 
ure  of  Lincoln  to  appear  in  your  forthcoming  work. 
Of  course  I  do  not  look  on  it  as  a  "lecture"  but,  as 
you  told  me,  a  fragment  from  Mr.  Lincoln's  life. 


92  Abraham  Lincoln 

When  I  read  the  lecture  I  thought  that  the  rules  of 
criticism  would  deal  rather  harshly  with  considerable 
of  your  "dressing"  of  the  ideas,  but  I  was  hardly 
prepared  to  anticipate  what  I  saw  a  week  later  in  an 
eastern  paper,  (Springfield,  Mass.  Republican}  the  sur 
mise  that  you  yourself  were  one  of  Miss  Rutledge's 
suitors.  Your  fancy  has  far  overshot  the  facts. 

To  one  like  myself,  whose  life  has  not  led  them  into 
criticism  and  whose  mind  is  not  moulded  by  loving 
contemplation  of  those  fair  symmetries  in  style,  which 
the  skeleton  of  ideas  fleshes  itself  with,  it  is  not  my 
province  to  criticize,  even  were  I  capable,  which  I 
know  I  am  not.  Yet  the  interest  I  have  in  your  present 
work,  and  friendliness  for  you,  leads  me  to  say  all  I 
can  that  by  any  means  could  draw  your  mind  to  care 
and  revision. 

The  point  in  the  lecture  that  lacks,  chiefly,  is  that, — 
at  the  death  of  Miss  Rutledge, — when,  apparently, 
Mr.  Lincoln's  mind  gives  away.  You  do  not  claim  for 
Lincoln  "insanity"  in  your  statement  of  the  facts, 
yet  in  attendant  circumstances  you  insinuate  it,  and 
in  the  words  you  put  into  Mr.  Lincoln's  mouth  there 
is  positive  insanity.  The  phrase,  "insanity  of  Lin 
coln,  "  is  a  shock  to  all  who  did  not  know  of  the  facts. 

I  learn  through  my  mother — who,  personally,  was 
acquainted  with  Miss  Rutledge, — that  Mr.  Lincoln's 
grief,  not  "insanity," — was  well  known.  This  charge 
is  something  so  entirely  new — you  being  the  first  to 
publish  the  story,  and  for  so  long  his  law  partner, — 


And  Ann  Rutledge  93 

the  world  is  asking  you  stern  questions,  and  it  will 
consider  that  you  have  overdrawn  the  picture  from  the 
fact  of  his  sudden  recovery. 

The  biographer  must  use  the  elements  that  con 
tributed  to  form  the  character  of  his  subject  as  the 
artist  does  his  pigments,  the  colours  must  melt  one 
into  the  other  with  no  beginning,  no  ending. 

To  me  the  picture  of  Lincoln's  early  life  shows 
variously,  about  this  way: — The  boy  Lincoln  in  the 
log  cabin :  Wielding  the  ax :  Studying :  Loving :  Then 
death  comes  with  its  icy  rush  over  his  warm  life 
throbs,  blackening  with  temporary  despair  the  once 
love-lit  future,  sobering  him  with  sickening,  rebellious 
thoughts,  and  flinging  his  soul  back  on  itself,  there 
finding  himself  and  his  God,  and  so  changing  the 
rollicking  life  to  the  calm,  deep  reasoning  soul  that 
made  a  philosopher  of  a  jovial  hail-fellow-well-met 
citizen  of  Salem.  Here  is  where  Mr.  Lincoln  first 
began  to  be  a  man. 

This  is  the  great  transition  my  mother  tells  me  she 
saw  in  the  mind  and  character  of  Mr.  Lincoln  while 
in,  and  through,  and  after  Ann  Rutledge  came  into  his 
life. 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  born  of  and  amid  what  I  choose 
to  term  the  Great  World;  i.e.,  the  class  of  merely 
existing  people  whose  heaven  is  sensation,  or  highest 
enjoyment  of  the  sensuous  universe.  He  passed,  at 
Salem,  into  the  next  class, — In  the  World — that  class 
on  the  surface  of  the  present,  to  whom  life  is  only  one 


94  Abraham  Lincoln 

vast  Now.  Here  he  lived  and  joyed,  held  high  holiday 
over  his  every  last  pulsation,  until  he  met  his  first 
love  in  the  sweet  and  winsome  personality  of  Ann 
Rutledge. 

Then  came  an  incident, — shall  I  call  it  only  such? — 
Death!  that  flings  his  nature  away  from  all  his  old 
moorings,  and  he  was  lost  for  a  brief  period  until  he 
entered  a  life — rare  in  this  world  of  ours — of  silence, 
as  you  and  I  have  often  seen  in  him;  "Out  of  The 
World,"  his  mind  soaring  above  all  mere  sensuous,  or 
"Today,"  existences  and  fluttering  around  the  very 
throne  of  the  Father  of  All. 

His  jovial  "Great  World,"  and  the  not  less  wonder 
ing  "  In  The  World"  people  he  had  so  intimately  been 
an  active  part  with  and  of,  stared,  queried, — wagged 
their  heads  with  knowing  import, — "crazy!" 

Mr.  Lincoln,  at  that  time,  doubtless,  reveled  and 
explored  this  hitherto  untrodden  universe, — "Out  of 
The  World, " — heedless  of  his  surroundings  for  some 
time,  and  then,  when  out  at  Bowling  Greene's, 
adapted  his  outer  self  to  surroundings;  but  his  mind, 
the  inner  Lincoln,  never  left  in  all  after  time  the  eleva 
tion  to  which  it  arose. 

His  manner  was  strange  to  old  associates,  but, 
therefrom  came  his  fine  capacity  to  dwell  in  thought- 
life  in  one  high  realm  and  yet  grasp  the  passer-by  with 
a  friendly  clasp  on  the  plane  of  every-day  life  we  both 
well  know.  But  enough  of  this. 

Of  any  change  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  peculiar  religious 


And  Ann  Rutledge  95 

views  held  at  Salem,  I  am  unprepared  to  believe  either 
way  in  a  historical  sense.  His  state  .papers,  his 
tranquil  life,  his  Christly  poise  in  great  emergencies, 
convince  me  he  did  change.  My  faith  is  one  way,  but 
history  is  a  tissue  of.  facts,  not  faiths.  I  hope  you  have 
heard  from  Drs.  Smith,  Chapin,  and  Beecher  by  this 
time.  On  this  point  bring  every  resource  to  bear,  and 
move  with  caution.  Remember  you  have  prejudices 
and  some  preconceived  opinions  to  guard  against, 
while  writing  Lincoln's  Life.  Once  more  reflect. 

I've  written  more  than  I  intended.  I  began  writing 
to  say  only  what  I  think  of  this  lecture,  and  found  I 
could  not  help  but  make  some  suggestions.  Write  me 
when  you  feel  like  it. 

Your  friend, 

HENRY  B.  RANKIN. 


Lincoln's  First  Law  Partners 
Stuart  and  Logan 


97 


The  learning  rule  for  a  lawyer,  as  for  the  man  of 
every  other  calling,  is  diligence.  Leave  nothing  for 
tomorrow  which  can  be  done  today. 

Extemporaneous  speaking  should  be  practised 
and  cultivated.  It  is  the  lawyer's  avenue  to  the 
public.  And  yet  there  is  not  a  more  fatal  error  to 
young  lawyers  than  relying  too  much  on  speech- 
making. 

Discourage  litigation.  Persuade  your  neighbours 
to  compromise  whenever  you  can.  Point  out  to 
them  how  the  nominal  winner  is  often  a  real  loser — 
in  fees,  expenses,  and  waste  of  time.  As  a  peace 
maker  the  lawyer  has  a  superior  opportunity  of  being 
a  good  man.  There  will  still  be  business  enough. 

Never  stir  up  litigation.  A  worse  man  can  scarcely 
be  found  than  one  who  does  this.  ...  A  moral  tone 
ought  to  be  infused  into  the  profession  which  should 
drive  such  men  out  of  it. 

There  is  a  vague  popular  belief  that  lawyers  are 
necessarily  dishonest.  .  .  .  Let  no  young  man  choosing 
the  law  for  a  calling  for  a  moment  yield  to  the  popular 
belief.  Resolve  to  be  honest  at  all  events;  and  if  in 
your  own  judgment  you  cannot  be  an  honest  lawyer, 
resolve  to  be  honest  without  being  a  lawyer. 

Note  for  a  Law  Lecture,  by  LINCOLN. 


98 


VII 


LINCOLN'S  FIRST  LAW  PARTNERS:    STUART  AND 
LOGAN 


From  Salem  and  After 

THE  cross  currents  and  aimless  wanderings  of 
Abraham  Lincoln's  life  may  be  said  to  have  nearly, 
or  quite,  ended  with  his  settling  down  at  New 
Salem.  Everything  before  that  formed  a  back 
ground  for  his  life  portrait  that  then  began  slowly 
to  take  on  the  features  and  character-tinting  that 
was  ever  after  so  remarkable,  so  unusual  in  all 
ways.  A  young  man  of  less  virile  physical  or 
mental  make-up  would  never  have  survived  the 
breaking-in,  and  the  character  strain,  that  Lincoln 
patiently  endured  at  New  Salem.  Even  after  all 
this,  a  less  ambitious  man  would  have  settled  down 
there,  a  village  or  a  country  squire  for  life. 

His  seven  years  among  the  peculiar  and  original 
characters  at  New  Salem  may  be  called  his  Fresh 
man  term  in  the  University  of  Life  with  the 
common  people  as  professors.  They  sifted  him, 
tried  him  out  thoroughly,  and  put  everything 

99 


ioo  Abraham  Lincoln 

God  had  given  him  possibilities  for,  up  to  that 
time,  to  the  fullest  test.  He  came  out  of  it  with 
such  a  wide  and  varied  development  and  man 
hood  as  only  such  a  youth  as  Abraham  Lincoln 
was  capable  of  attaining.  The  Clary's  Grove 
boys,  the  wilder  Wolf  Creek  contingent,  and  the 
Sandridge  rowdy  roysterers  had  their  coarse  rus 
tic  innings  with  him,  and  gave  him  such  genuine 
athletic  polishings  and  tumblings  about  as  no 
college  coach,  even  in  our  time,  could  offer  a  young 
man .  There  was  no  neglect  of  muscular  training  for 
young  men  in  that  primitive  community.  Young 
Lincoln  took  cheerfully  all  that  came  in  his  way 
and  became  physical  master  of  the  best  of  them. 

Then  came  the  personal  instruction  of  Menter 
Graham,  aided  by  the  sundry  volumes  in  his 
library  of  choice  English  literature  and  transla 
tions  of  ancient  classics.  Nor  should  we  forget 
the  stray  volumes  of  Blackstone  which  even  in 
those  immature  years  the  young  clerk  picked  out 
of  the  barrel  of  rubbish  in  the  country  store  ware 
house,  and  which,  as  he  told  me  many  years  later, 
he  literally  devoured  long  before  he  took  up  the 
systematic  study  of  law  under  John  T.  Stuart. 
All  these  influences  were  a  fuel  to  the  fire  already 
kindled  in  those  latent  mental  faculties  which,  as 
yet  so  unconsciously,  he  possessed. 


First  Law  Pattnefs,  ;         * 


He  spoke  of  this  to  office  students  who  were  read 
ing  Blackstone  for  the  first  time,  and  said  he  caught 
his  first  inspiration  in  the  art  of  defining  words  and 
stating  principles  from  this  master.  Sometimes  in 
the  office  he  would  take  up  a  volume  of  Blackstone 
and  read  pages  aloud,  occasionally  commenting  on 
the  author's  judicial  acuteness  as  he  went  along. 

It  was  while  Lincoln  lived  at  Salem  that  he 
formed  his  first  Springfield  acquaintance  worth 
mentioning.  Menter  Graham  introduced  him  to 
Calhoun,  the  County  Surveyor,  and  at  his  sug 
gestion,  Lincoln  took  up  the  study  of  surveying. 
Later,  he  became  Calhoun's  deputy,  and  the  fees 
thus  earned  became  for  a  time  his  principal 
source  of  livelihood.  This  required  many  trips  to 
Springfield,  where  new  friends  became  more  and 
more  attractive  to  him.  Thus  the  circle  of  his 
mental  horizon  enlarged.  He  met  men  of  keen 
intellect  and  trained  mind,  and  began  acquiring 
a  new  vigour  of  thought  from  their  personality. 
It  was  in  the  midst  of  this  stimulating  environ 
ment  that  he  began  the  study  of  lawr,  getting 
books  and  personal  directions  from  John  T.  Stu 
art.  Finding  his  village  student  so  capable  and 
promising,  in  1837,  Mr.  Stuart  invited  Lincoln  to 
come  to  Springfield  and  enter  into  partnership  with 
him  in  the  practice  of  law. 


Abraham  Lincoln 


It  would  reveal  and  illuminate  an  important 
period  of  Lincoln's  life,  and  at  the  same  time  be  a 
pleasing  task,  for  one  who  knew  John  T.  Stuart, 
Stephen  T.  Logan,  and  William  H.  Hern  don — • 
not  only  as  lawyers,  but  also  as  individuals  with 
their  strong  though  widely  different  characteristics 
— to  describe  fully  the  part  contributed  by  them 
individually  and  collectively,  through  a  series  of 
remarkable  years,  to  the  character-building  and 
mental  development  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  In  all 
the  biographies  of  Lincoln  the  vital  influence  of 
these  personal  factors  upon  his  life  during  the  for 
mative  years  from  1838  to  1860  has  been  either 
wholly  neglected,  or  passed  over  all  too  hastily. 

Would  Major  Stuart  have  invited  Lincoln  in 
to  partnership  with  him  had  the  latter  when  he 
left  Salem  and  came  to  Springfield  been  the  crude 
country  bumpkin  described  by  some  biographers? 
No  one  who  knew  Stuart  would  say  so.  To 
those  who  knew  Lincoln,  then,  this  description 
is  an  absurd  caricature.  The  invitation  was  a 
recognition  and  a  measure  of  Lincoln's  merits  and 
personality  at  that  time,  to  be  understood  fully 
only  by  those  who  knew  Major  John  T.  Stuart 
personally.  His  education  and  manners  were 
those  of  a  polished  gentleman  of  the  olden  school, 
at  its  very  best.  In  ability  as  a  politician  at  that 


First  Law  Partners  103 

time  he  had  no  superior  in  Illinois,  and  his  sagacity 
and  ability  to  judge  men  accurately  were  superior. 
His  own  professional  preparation  had  been  liberal 
for  that  period,  and  his  law  practice  was  then  well 
established  in  Springfield.  Here,  and  in  the 
surrounding  judicial  districts  whose  courts  he 
attended,  his  cases  and  clients  were  equal,  if  not 
superior,  to  those  of  any  other  attorney  con 
nected  with  the  Springfield  bar.  His  political 
friends  and  foes  alike  had  complimented  him 
with  the  political  name  of  "Jerry  Sly, "  because 
of  the  unusual  ability  and  shrewdness  with  which 
he  had  managed  the  political  affairs  of  the  Whig 
party  in  his  Congressional  district. 

John  T.  Stuart  was  a  gentleman  not  likely  to 
make  a  mistake  in  selecting  a  law  partner.  If, 
at  the  time  when  he  left  Salem,  Lincoln  had  not 
been  a  man  of  well  established,  refined  character, 
and  of  mental  abilities  forecasting  a  promising 
future,  John  T.  Stuart  would  never  have  suggested 
the  partnership.  Lincoln  brought  his  own  spurs 
with  him  into  the  office.  He  did  not  need  to  look 
up  any  cast-off  pair  of  Major  Stuart's  when  the  lat 
ter  was  elected  to  Congress,  and  Lincoln  during  Mr. 
Stuart's  absence  took  charge  of  all  the  legal  work 
of  the  office  and  no  small  part  in  political  activi 
ties  at  home. 


104  Abraham  Lincoln 

Those  who  study  Lincoln's  biography  in  the 
three  or  four  years  of  this  law  partnership  will 
learn  how  ably  the  senior  partner  by  his  courteous 
manners  assisted  the  junior  in  his  first  legal  work 
in  the  courts  and  in  political  strategy,  and  how 
well  the  junior  profited  by  this  partnership's  in 
fluence  on  him.  Its  close  did  not  sever  their  per 
sonal  friendship,  which  continued  on  through  later 
years,  even  though  they  were  finally  aligned  on 
different  sides  of  the  very  definite  issues  which 
divided  the  political  parties. 

The  entrance  of  Lincoln  into  partnership  with 
Stephen  T.  Logan  marks  another  epoch,  and  gives 
evidence  of  an  enlarged  estimate  of  his  standing 
as  a  lawyer  at  the  termination  of  his  partnership 
with  Stuart.  On  the  strict  lines  of  law  and  busi 
ness  affairs,  it  was  a  promotion  for  Lincoln.  As 
Judge  Logan  has  never  had  a  superior  at  the 
Springfield  bar  in  all  the  mental  qualities  that  go 
to  form  the  ideal  lawyer,  it  is  quite  impossible 
to  sketch  his  character  within  a  few  lines.  I 
shall,  therefore,  not  attempt  it  within  these  nar 
row  limits.  It  is  another  story.  It  is,  however, 
at  least  partially  told  in  the  addresses  on  Judge 
Logan,  delivered  after  his  decease  before  the  Illi 
nois  Supreme  Court  in  memory  of  the  man  and 


First  Law  Partners  105 

his  services.  These  were  published  at  the  time, 
and  a  copy  may  be  found  in  our  State  Historical 
Library. 

In  this  new  firm  of  Logan  &  Lincoln  the  junior 
partner  found  himself  measured  up  daily,  in 
office  and  court  work,  with  a  partner  whose  mind 
was  alert,  keen,  and  at  the  same  time  as  profound 
and  analytical  as  that  of  Edmund  Burke,  whom 
he  in  many  ways  resembled.  This  ever-toiling, 
"haste  not,  rest  not,"  tireless  law  partner,  as  well 
as  most  strict  and  exact  business  man,  gave  to 
Lincoln  the  pace  of  his  life  up  to  that  time.  Lincoln 
became  aroused  by  Judge  Logan  to  greater  legal 
ambitions  than  had  ever  inspired  him  before. 
His  mental  development  had  come  to  a  point 
where  he  was  fully  equal  to  taking  this  training. 

Passing  so  briefly  from  mention  of  Lincoln's 
first  two  partners,  I  cannot  forbear  a  further 
word  of  tribute  to  the  high  character  and  noble 
ideals  characteristic  of  both  John  T.  Stuart 
and  Stephen  T.  Logan.  They  lived  long,  useful, 
and  notable  lives  in  the  city  of  Springfield.  It 
becomes  us  all  to  keep  their  memory  green  and 
aspire  toward  their  excellences.  In  all  of  moral 
and  mental  stamina  that  makes  good  citizenship, 
they  were  the  peers  of  each  other.  In  mental 


io6  Abraham  Lincoln 

characteristics  and  business  methods,  in  their 
social  manners  and  religious  views,  they  differed 
widely;  and  the  passing  of  Lincoln  from  one 
firm  to  another  brought  him  into  connection  with 
such  sharp  contrasts  that  they  could  almost  be 
said  to  have  introduced  as  great  a  change  into  his 
mental  drill  as  his  passing  from  Salem  and  country 
life  to  Major  Stuart's  law  office  in  Springfield  did 
in  the  first  event. 

Each  in  his  separate  way  left  a  lasting  impress 
on  the  future  President.  He  profited  profoundly 
by  them  both,  as  few  minds  are  capable  of  profiting 
by  close  contact  with  others.  In  later  years, 
as  President,  amid  vast  problems  of  political  and 
diplomatic  issues,  as  well  as  of  military  strategy, 
the  influence — even  some  word  selections  and 
sentence  moulding  methods  in  state  papers — 
of  these  two  former  partners  was  occasionally 
discernible  by  those  familiar  with  the  courteous, 
suave  skill  of  the  one,  and  the  keen,  dagger-like 
thrusts  of  logic  of  the  other. 

How  fortunate  it  is  to  the  memory  of  these  two 
eminent  gentlemen  to  have  had  so  apt  and  original 
a  student  and  partner  as  Abraham  Lincoln,  and 
that  they  discerned  his  worth  and  assisted  him 
through  those  years.  The  highest  excellence  is 
capacity  to  be  taught,  to  grasp  opportunities  in 


First  Law  Partners  107 

occasions  and  personalities  as  they  come  and  go. 
Lincoln  was  singularly  well  endowed  with  this 
trait.  All  his  life  he  lived  with  mind  and  soul  all 
open  to  the  four  winds  of  heaven  and  earth.  This 
was  a  chief  source  of  power  in  his  eventful  life. 


William  H.  Herndon:    The  Last 
Law  Partner 


109 


There  by  the  window  in  the  old  house 

Perched  on  the  bluff,  overlooking  miles  of  valley, 

My  days  of  labour  closed,  sitting  out  life's  decline, 

Day  by  day  did  I  look  in  my  memory, 

As  one  who  gazes  in  an  enchantress'  crystal  globe, 

And  I  saw  the  figures  of  the  past, 

As  if  in  a  pageant  glassed  by  a  shining  dream, 

Move  through  the  incredible  sphere  of  time. 

And  I  saw  a  man  arise  from  the  soil  like  a  fabled  giant 

And  throw  himself  over  a  deathless  destiny, 

Master  of  great  armies,  head  of  the  republic, 

Bringing  together  into  a  dithyramb  of  recreative  song 

The  epic  hopes  of  a  people ; 

At  the  same  time  vulcan  of  sovereign  fires, 

Where  imperishable  shields  and  swords  were  beaten 

out 

From  spirits  tempered  in  heaven. 
Look  in  the  crystal!     See  how  he  hastens  on 
To  the  place  where  his  path  comes  up  to  the  path 
Of  a  child  of  Plutarch  and  Shakespeare. 
O  Lincoln,  actor  indeed,  playing  well  your  part, 
And  Booth,  who  strode  in  a  mimic  play  within  the  play, 
Often  and  often  I  saw  you, 

As  the  cawing  crows  winged  their  way  to  the  wood 
Over  my  house-top  at  solemn  sunsets, 
There  by  my  window, 
Alone. 

EDGAR  LEE  MASTERS. 


no 


VIII 

WILLIAM  H.  HERNDON:  THE  LAST  LAW  PARTNER 

Now  followed  the  last,  the  longest,  and  probably 
the  most  influential  of  all  of  Lincoln's  law  part 
nerships.  Lincoln  selected  this  one,  the  others 
invited  him.  There  was  a  difference  of  nearly  ten 
years  in  their  ages.  Temperamentally,  there 
was  more  than  twice  what  those  ten  years  stood 
for.  Few  partners  ever  differed  more  widely 
in  fixed  characteristics  when  they  entered  upon 
their  partnership,  and  yet  maintained  these  to  the 
extreme  without  change  and  with  no  break  or  jar 
in  any  hour  of  their  partnership  to  its  close. 

The  senior  partner  was  deficient  in  three  very 
common  elements  in  the  character  of  most  men 
who  arrive  at  eminence.  These  deficiencies  largely 
contributed  to  partnership  harmony,  and,  it  may 
be  added,  promoted  his  fortunes  in  his  future  pub 
lic  and  political  life  as  well.  Usually  the  things 
we  possess  are  the  ones  expected  to  add  to  the 
credit  side  of  character.  But  character  has  a  very 
desirable  debit  side,  as  well.  The  advantageous 


in 


ii2  Abraham  Lincoln 

deficiencies  that  made  Lincoln  stronger  were  that 

• 

he  was  a  man  who  had  few  settled  prejudices;  that 
he  was  free,  to  a  large  degree,  from  obstinacy ;  and 
that  in  him  there  was  no  petty  egotism.  With 
these  threefold  deficiencies  cancelled  out  of  his 
character  credits,  it  is  not  remarkable  that  he 
was  the  most  adaptable  and  considerate  of  part 
ners;  and  that  at  last,  in  larger  relations  and 
responsibilities,  he  became  such  a  master,  even 
when  associated,  as  he  was,  with  most  masterful 
men. 

Lincoln  met  Herndon  for  the  first  time,  to 
become  interested  in  him,  at  Speed's  dry-goods 
store,  over  which  Lincoln  roomed  with  Mr.  Speed 
when  he  first  came  to  Springfield  to  enter  into 
partnership  with  Major  Stuart  in  law  practice. 
Part  of  that  time  Mr.  Herndon  also  shared  that 
upper  room  with  both  his  employer  and  his  future 
law  partner.  Friendly  relations  began  there  which 
were  destined  to  continue  and  deepen  through 
future  years.  Some  little  mention  of  the  moulding 
influences  around  the  life  of  William  H.  Herndon, 
previous  to  this  and  on  up  to  the  time  this  partner 
ship  began,  seems  desirable  for  several  reasons 
before  considering  him  in  his  relation  as  partner 
of  Lincoln. 


Last  Law  Partner  113 

Unlike  Lincoln,  Mr.  Herndon  had  been  reared 
in  a  home  of  wealth,  with  the  best  opportunities 
for  early  instruction  which  the  schools  of  Spring 
field  then  afforded.  He  had  never  felt  the  priva 
tions  and  grinds  of  poverty  amid  squalid  rural 
surroundings  on  the  frontier,  as  had  Lincoln. 
Through  childhood  he  had  been  the  favourite 
son,  and  his  father's  plans  for  his  education  were 
liberal.  Having  finished  the  courses  offered  by 
the  schools  of  Springfield,  his  father  sent  him  to 
Illinois  College  at  Jacksonville. 

This  college  was  then  under  the  control  of  the 
Yale  band  of  professors  who  had  come  west  to 
establish,  if  possible,  a  new  Yale  College,  plus 
greater  liberality  of  thought  in  both  religion  and 
politics.  In  this  college,  under  the  personal  in 
struction  of  such  professors  as  Beecher,  Sturte- 
vant,  Turner,  Adams,  Post,  Dr.  Jones,  and  others, 
young  Herndon  began  his  college  life.  He  has 
told  me  in  private  conversations  of  these  most 
enjoyable  years  in  his  life;  of  the  wider  world 
opened  to  him  by  his  advanced  text-books;  of 
the  inspiration  and  ambition  aroused  in  him  by 
the  excellent  college  library;  and  especially  of  the 
personality  of  his  professors,  and  the  deep,  abid 
ing  impress  which  their  scholarship  and  political 
principles  made  on  his  life.  The  time  spent  there 


H4  Abraham  Lincoln 

was,  as  he  said,  a  perpetual^  romance;  but  its 
ending,  so  unexpected  and  sudden  in  its  coming, 
made  those  years  seem  a  dreamland  when  he 
looked  back  to  them.  A  boy's  will  may  be  as 
unstable  as  the  wind;  but  the  thoughts  and  prin 
ciples  implanted  in  young  manhood  are  destined 
to  abide.  In  young  Herndon's  case  they  did  abide, 
were  passed  on,  and,  in  some  degree,  helped  to 
mould  the  character  of  a  nation's  executive. 

Young  Herndon  was  more  than  half-way  through 
college  when  on  November  7,  1837,  the  Alton  riot 
occurred,  resulting  in  the  throwing  of  the  Abolition 
newspaper  press  and  material  into  the  Mississippi 
River,  and  the  murder  of  its  editor,  Lovejoy.  Great 
excitement  was  aroused  throughout  the  country. 
This  brought  the  Illinois  College  professors  and  a 
number  of  the  student  body  and  a  few  citizens  of 
Jacksonville  to  the  front  with  the  war-cry  of  the 
Revolution  on  their  lips.  Jacksonville  was  then 
one  of  the  active  stations  on  the  Abolition  Un 
derground  Railway  that  secretly  passed  runaway 
slaves  on  to  Canada.  A  public  meeting  on  the 
campus  was  announced  at  chapel,  to  be  held  that 
afternoon.  The  college  bell  chimed  the  call  on 
time,  and  a  crowd  assembled.  Several  professors 
and  citizens  addressed  the  assembly  in  short  im- 


Last  Law  Partner  115 

promptu  speeches.  The  people,  mostly  Southern 
in  their  political  ties,  were  turbulent ;  and  outside 
the  college  influences,  they  sympathized  with,  or 
condoned,  the  actions  of  the  Alton  mob.  The 
meeting  seemed  likely  to  end  in  a  row.  At  this 
critical  moment  the  young  student,  Herndon,  made 
his  way  towards  the  front  and  took  the  platform. 
The  student  body  caught  the  excitement,  and  see 
ing  Herndon  speaking  privately  with  President 
Beecher,  on  the  platform,  they  raised  the  college 
yell,  and  shouts  for  "Herndon,"  "Herndon"— 
"The  son  of  a  Democrat.  Let  us  hear  what  this 
'son  of  a  gun'  can  say!"  Beecher,  already  ap 
palled  by  the  noisy  crowd  on  the  campus,  without 
finding  exactly  what  the  young  student  proposed 
to  say,  in  his  perplexity  told  young  Herndon  to 
speak  if  he  chose. 

How  long  Herndon  held  the  crowd  I  never 
could  learn — no  one  noted  the  time.  But  several 
who  were  there  agree  in  the  account  narrated  in 
later  years  of  the  remarkable  speech  he  made, 
and  the  degree  of  quiet  with  which  the  assembly 
received  it.  His  appeal  was  surprisingly  moder 
ate, — for  a  free  press  on  free  soil  at  least ;  and  was 
voiced  decidedly,  yet  so  skillfully  as  to  gain  the 
attention  of  an  adverse  audience  to  the  principles 
of  freedom  taught  by  the  Illinois  professors  and 


n6  Abraham  Lincoln 

claiming  that  they  should  be  maintained  in  all 
free  states  and  territories.  The  student  body 
began  cheering;  hisses  and  catcalls  became  fewer; 
and  as  he  closed  he  was  picked  up  by  his  college 
mates  and  borne  off  the  campus  on  the  shoulders 
of  his  fellow-students,  and  the  whole  affair  came 
to  an  end  as  a  sort  of  College  Hill  pyrotechnic 
display. 

A  local  paper  had  a  short  but  witty  write-up 
of  the  event  from  the  college  student  standpoint; 
and  by  some  means  this  and  a  fuller  verbal  account 
of  young  Herndon's  part  in  this  "anti-slavery" 
meeting,  as  it  was  called,  came  to  the  notice  of  his 
father  at  Springfield,  the  Hon.  A.  G.  Herndon, 
who, with  Lincoln, was  of  the  "long  nine"  members 
in  the  Illinois  Legislature  who  secured  the  State 
Capitol  for  Springfield.  He  saw  at  once  that  his 
favourite  son  William  had  imbibed  the  horrible 
political  heresies  of  Professors  Beecher,  Turner, 
and  their  associates — in  plain  words,  that  he 
had  become  what  these  professors  called  a  "Free 
Soiler,"  but  what  the  fond  parent  called  "Aboli 
tionist" — not  to  add  here  the  abundant  and  expres 
sive  epithets  which  the  Hon.  Archie  G.  Herndon 
was  so  competent  to  prefix  under  the  excitement 
of  warm  political  discussion. 


Last  Law  Partner  117 

Young  William  got  peremptory  orders  by  the 
first  mail  to  pack  his  goods,  pay  all  bills,  and 
return  home.  This  he  promptly  did,  and  on  ar 
riving,  the  fond  but  indignant  parent  informed 
the  youthful  student  that  he  would  have  none  of 
this  in  his  house  and  name;  that  unless  he  re 
nounced  his  horrid  abolitionism  and  all  his  d — d 
abolition  associates  and  came  back  to  the  fold  of 
the  true  and  undefiled  Democratic  party  for  good, 
he  would  have  no  more  of  him  in  college  or  out  of 
college;  nor  should  he  ever  have  any  financial 
assistance  from  him  thenceforward.  The  father 
was  too  late.  Father  and  son  were  of  the  same 
unbending,  independent,  and  impulsive  tempera 
ment,  and  discussions  of  political  principles  and 
parties  only  widened  the  breach  between  them. 
The  seeds  of  liberty  had  been  well  planted.  The 
free-soil  principles  had  taken  too  deep  root  in  the 
warm  young  heart  of  the  enthusiastic  son.  He 
was  immovable.  Ever  after,  on  all  occasions, 
through  good  and  evil  report,  every  throb  of  his 
heart,  and  all  the  energy  and  force  of  his  active 
temperament,  kept  time  with  the  advance  of  free- 
soil  sentiment  throughout  the  nation  until  the  final 
consummation  was  reached. 

Young  Herndon  left  home,  bereft  of  all  ties 
there  save  his  mother,  on  whom  it  became  his 


n8  Abraham  Lincoln 

habit  to  call  daily,  or  salute  as*he  passed  by  the 
home.  To  meet  his  first  expenses,  he  began  clerk 
ing  in  Speed's  store.  In  the  back  part  of  this 
store-room  was  a  huge  fireplace.  This,  after  busi 
ness  and  office  hours,  became  a  meeting  place  for 
circles  of  local  business  and  professional  men  of 
the  city,  both  old  and  young,  where  all  manner 
of  business,  professional,  and  political  subjects 
were  discussed,  often  until  the  small  hours  of 
morning.  Mingling  with  such  company,  the  young 
clerk  did  not  drift  from  his  studious  habits  nor 
long  remain  a  dry-goods  clerk.  He  was  soon 
reading  in  a  law-office,  and  became  a  more  zealous 
student  there  than  he  had  ever  been  at  college. 
He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  due  time,  and 
settled  down  to  office  work  and  court  practice  for 
such  clients  as  began  to  recognize  his  merits. 

«  Thus  William  H.  Herndon  had  worked  up  to 
a  day  when,  to  his  great  surprise,  Lincoln — who 
had  just  withdrawn  from  his  partnership  with 
Judge  Logan, — walked  into  his  office  and  proffered 
him  a  partnership  in  their  law  practice.  To  Mr. 
Herndon 's  modest  but  sincere  objection,  in  view 
of  his  youth  and  lack  of  experience  in  the  law, 
Lincoln  would  not  listen,  but  closed  all  discus 
sion  by  saying:  "If  you  can  trust  me,  Billy,  I 


Last  Law  Partner  119 

can  trust  you!'*  That  was  their  partnership  pact. 
They  had  then  been  intimately  acquainted  for 
five  years.  For  nearly  seventeen  years  thereafter, 
this  trust  was  mutually  kept  sacred  in  loyalty  to 
each  other,  mutual  and  untarnished. 

Lincoln's  readings  during  his  partnerships  with 
Stuart  and  Logan  were  principally  confined  to 
law,  with  only  an  occasional  diversion  in  history 
or  essays  by  English  writers  of  the  Queen  Anne 
period  that  were  favourites  with  Major  Stuart. 
None  of  the  latter  strongly  appealed  to  Lincoln. 
Thus  it  happened  that,  during  these  two  part 
nerships,  aside  from  consulting  authorities  and 
precedents  connected  with  their  clients'  cases,  Mr. 
Lincoln  did  scarcely  any  reading,  and  his  leisure 
hours  were  usually  spent  in  conversational  enjoy 
ments  where  his  friends  were  accustomed  most  to 
congregate.  Professional  engagements  were  less 
exacting  at  that  period  than  now;  and  offices, 
banks,  and  stores  were  meeting  places  in  a  social 
way  of  congenial  friends  during  the  day  and 
evenings  to  an  extent  quite  different  from  the 
custom  of  the  present  day.  In  this  respect, 
Lincoln's  habits  began  to  change  after  his  partner 
ship  with  Mr.  Herndon  began.  The  latter  had 
become  a  regular  reader  of  State  Library  books, 


120  Abraham  Lincoln 

and  this  he  had  supplemented  by  purchases  of 
many  of  the  best  books  written  in  later  years.  At 
the  time  of  which  I  write,  Herndon's  chief  extrava 
gance  was  buying  books.  I  was  told  by  the  prin 
cipal  bookseller  in  Springfield,  sometime  before 
the  Fremont  campaign,  that  in  addition  to  all  his 
professional  reading,  Mr.  Herndon  read  every 
year  more  new  books  in  history,  pedagogy, 
medicine,  theology,  and  general  literature,  than 
all  the  teachers^  doctors,  and  ministers  in  Spring 
field  put  together;  a  statement  which  was  probably 
correct. 

Another  marked  characteristic  of  Mr.  Herndon's 
— aside  from  his  ability  as  a  lawyer — was  the 
rapidity  with  which  he  could  go  through  a  book 
and  master  its  essentials,  and,  after  laying  it 
aside,  could  thereafter,  on  a  few  moments'  re 
flection,  give  a  digest  or  rehearsal  of  its  con 
tents,  admirably  condensed,  and  sometimes  more 
interesting  than  the  book  itself.  He  had  culti 
vated  this  faculty  for  years  and,  at  this  period,  it 
had  become  a  habit  with  him,  and  one  he  greatly 
enjoyed  when  with  congenial  friends. 

This  way  of  acquainting  himself  with  the 
contents  of  books  suited  Lincoln  much  better 
than  his  own  reading  of  most  books.  No  public 
man  since  Socrates  ever  enjoyed  more  thoroughly, 


Last  Law  Partner  121 

or  used  more  successfully,  the  art  of  getting  from 
question-asking  conversations  most  of  the  informa 
tion  he  desired  on  any  subject  that  was  interesting 
him.  There  has  been  no  little  discussion,  in  later 
years,  about  some  one's  absurd  affirmation  "That 
Lincoln  never  read  any  book  through  himself!" 
and  Herndon's  off-hand  statement,  intended  only 
to  emphasize  Lincoln's  ability  as  a  thinker,  viz.: 
"Abraham  Lincoln  read  less  and  thought  more 
than  any  other  man  in  his  generation."  Super 
latives  and  extreme  generalizations  were  never 
more  faulty  than  when  used  to  define  the  char 
acteristics  and  mental  make-up  of  so  unusual  and 
original  a  man  as  Lincoln.  These  statements  in 
some  degee  have  colouring  from  this  habit  acquired 
after  he  and  Mr.  Herndon  became  partners. 
Before  that,  Lincoln  had  read,  and  read  most 
thoroughly,  quite  a  variety  and  no  small  number 
of  the  best  books.  He  said  as  much  in  regard  to 
many  books  which  he  mentioned,  and  referred 
to  and  spoke  of  having  read  them  before  he  came 
to,  Springfield. 

His  marriage, — it  may  be  remarked  here, — 
was  another  most  controlling  circumstance  in  the 
literary  and  intellectual  life  of  Lincoln.  Mrs.  Lin 
coln,  while  a  resident  of  Springfield  before  and 
after  her  marriage,  impressed  all  who  were  ac- 


122  Abraham  Lincoln 

quainted  with  her  with  the  excellent  and  accu 
rate  literary  taste  she  had  acquired  by  education 
and  general  reading,  especially  in  history,  poetry, 
and  fiction.  She  stimulated  Lincoln's  ambition 
politically ;  and  at  the  same  time  by  her  brilliancy 
as  a  conversationalist,  and  her  appreciation  of  all 
that  was  best  in  literature,  and  in  the  books  which 
they  mutually  enjoyed  in  their  home,  was  a  force 
ful  stimulus  to  Lincoln's  intellectual  life.  She  was 
a  good  writer  of  terse,  strong  sentences,  and  an 
excellent  critic  to  correct  anything  submitted  to 
her  revision.  She  delighted  to  entertain  her  fam 
ily  and  friends  by  reading  aloud  evenings.  Above 
all,  she  had  the  most  constant  and  enduring  faith 
in  Lincoln's  political  future,  and  tried  by  every 
means  in  the  range  of  her  unusually  inspiring  and 
vigorous  personality  to  assist  her  husband  in  sea 
son,  and — as  some  friends  thought — out  of  season, 
when  she  saw  Lincoln's  own  ambition  beginning 
to  fail.  By  some  who  were  less  intimate  and  knew 
less  of  her  character  and  of  the  real  home  life  of 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lincoln,  this  solicitude  on  her  part 
was  often  misconstrued  as  officiousness. 

Mr.  Herndon's  books  and  his  constant  addi 
tions  to  them  became  of  increasing  interest  to 
Lincoln.  They  first  opened  to  him  the  new,  wide, 
modern  world  of  science,  political  history  and 


Last  Law  Partner  123 

philosophy,  as  well  as  of  literature.  Then  the 
growing  State  Library  also  became  an  attraction 
to  him.  There  he  met  many  kindred  spirits 
whose  conversational  interests  became  almost  a 
daily  pastime  with  him.  It  was  a  new  atmosphere 
that  mingled  politics  with  science  and  literature. 
This  State  Library  attraction  was  greatly  increased 
by  the  charming  personality  of  Hon.  Newton 
Bateman.  He  was  then  State  Superintendent  of 
Public  Instruction  and  his  office  adjoined  the  law- 
office  of  Lincoln  and  Herndon.  Here  Lincoln 
was  to  be  found  nearly  as  often  as  at  his  own 
office.  In  those  important  years,  these  intimacies 
harmoniously  continued,  with  literary  and  political 
friends  coming  and  going,  meeting  at  the  State 
Library  and  privately  at  the  office,  with  literary 
and  political  discussions  between  friends  and  part 
ners.  Not  that  Lincoln  cared  equally  for  all  the 
literary  selections  his  friends  and  the  junior  part 
ner  found  in  their  readings,  or  which  Mrs.  Lincoln 
shared  with  him  at  their  home.  The  partner,  at 
least,  soon  saw  what  kind  of  books  would  interest 
his  senior,  and  these  he  brought  forth  as  Lincoln's 
request  or  mood  called  for  them.  Often  at  the  end 
of  an  office  day  he  would  remark:  "Billy,  what 
book  have  you  worth  while  to  take  home  to 
night  ?"  or  he  would  already  have  one,  procured 


124  Abraham  Lincoln 

at  the  State  Library  during  the  day,  and  stowed 
in  or  on  his  hat,  so  that  he  would  be  sure  not  to 
forget  it  when  starting  for  home. 

No  part  of  Lincoln's  life  has  suffered  more  in 
history  from  false  colouring  and  belittling  sen 
sationalism  than  that  of  the  earlier  years  he  lived 
in  Springfield ;  and  especially  is  this  true  in  respect 
to  his  mental  and  literary  activities  of  that  period. 
While  I  knew  Lincoln  in  office  life  then  every  new 
book  that  appeared  on  the  table  had  his  attention, 
and  was  taken  up  by  him  on  entering  to  glance 
through  more  or  less  thoroughly.  I  can  say  the 
same  of  the  books  in  Bateman's  office  adjoin 
ing  the  law-office.  Walt  Whitman's  Leaves  of 
Grass,  then  just  published,  I  recall  as  one  of  the 
few  new  books  of  poetry  that  interested  him, 
and  which,  after  reading  aloud  a  dozen  or  more 
pages  in  his  amusing  way,  he  took  home  with 
him.  He  brought  it  back  the  next  morning, 
laying  it  on  Bateman's  table  and  remarking  in  a 
grim  way  that  he  "had  barely  saved  it  from  being 
purified  in  fire  by  the  women." 

Readers  of  this  day  hardly  comprehend  the 
shock  Whitman's  first  book  gave  the  public. 
Lincoln,  from  the  first,  appreciated  Whitman's 
peculiar  poetic  genius,  but  he  lamented  his  rude, 


Last  Law  Partner  125 

coarse  naturalness.  It  may  be  worth  while  to 
relate  the  office  scene  when  Lincoln  first  read 
Whitman's  poetry.  It  was  exceptional  for  Lincoln 
to  read  aloud  in  the  office  anything  but  a  news 
paper  extract.  Only  books  that  had  a  peculiar 
and  unusual  charm  for  him  in  their  ideas,  or  form 
of  expression,  tempted  him  to  read  aloud  while  in 
the  office, — and  this  only  when  the  office  family 
were  alone  present.  It  was  quite  usual  and  ex 
pected  by  us  at  such  times,  when  he  would  become 
absorbed  in  reading  some  favourite  author,  as 
Burns's  poems,  or  one  of  Shakespeare's  plays,  for 
him  to  begin  reading  aloud,  if  some  choice  char 
acter  or  principle  had  appealed  to  him,  and  he 
would  then  continue  on  to  the  end  of  the  act,  and 
sometimes  to  the  end  of  the  play  or  poem. 

When  Walt  Whitman's  Leaves  of  Grass  was  first 
published  it  was  placed  on  the  office  table  by 
Herndon.  It  had  been  read  by  several  of  us  and, 
one  day,  discussions  hot  and  extreme  had  sprung 
up  between  office  students  and  Mr.  Herndon 
concerning  its  poetic  merit,  in  which  Dr.  Bateman 
engaged  with  us,  having  entered  from  his  adjoin 
ing  office.  Later,  quite  a  surprise  occurred  when 
we  found  that  the  Whitman  poetry  and  our  dis 
cussions  had  been  engaging  Lincoln's  silent  atten 
tion.  After  the  rest  of  us  had  finished  our  criticism 


126  Abraham  Lincoln 

of  some  peculiar  verses  and  gf  Whitman  in  gen 
eral,  as  well  as  of  each  other's  literary  taste  and 
morals  in  particular,  and  had  resumed  our  usual 
duties  or  had  departed,  Lincoln,  who  during  the 
criticisms  had  been  apparently  in  the  unapproach 
able  depths  of  one  of  his  glum  moods  of  meditative 
silence, — referred  to  elsewhere, — took  up  Leaves 
of  Grass  for  his  first  reading  of  it.  After  half  an 
hour  or  more  devoted  to  it  he  turned  back  to  the 
first  pages,  and  to  our  general  surprise,  began  to 
read  aloud.  Other  office  work  was  discontinued 
by  us  all  while  he  read  with  sympathetic  emphasis 
verse  after  verse.  His  rendering  revealed  a  charm 
of  new  life  in  Whitman's  versification.  Save  for  a 
few  comments  on  some  broad  allusions  that  Lin 
coln  suggested  could  have  been  veiled,  or  left  out, 
he  commended  the  new  poet's  verses  for  their 
virility,  freshness,  unconventional  sentiments,  and 
unique  forms  of  expression,  and  claimed  that 
Whitman  gave  promise  of  a  new  school  of  poetry. 
At  his  request,  the  book  was  left  by  Herndon 
on  the  office  table.  Time  and  again  when  Lincoln 
came  in,  or  was  leaving,  he  would  pick  it  up  as  if 
to  glance  at  it  for  only  a  moment,  but  instead 
he  would  often  settle  down  in  a  chair  and  never 
stop  without  reading  aloud  such  verses  or  pages 
as  he  fancied.  His  estimate  of  the  poetry  differed 


Last  Law  Partner  127 

from  any  brought  out  in  the  office  discussions. 
He  foretold  correctly  the  place  the  future  would 
assign  to  Whitman's  poems,  and  that  Leaves  of 
Grass  would  be  followed  by  other  and  greater  work. 
A  few  years  later,  immediately  following  the  tra 
gedy  of  Lincoln's  assassination,  Whitman  wrote 
that  immortal  elegy,  "  0  Captain !  My  Captain ! " 
which  became  the  nation's — aye,  the  world's — 
funeral  dirge  of  our  First  American.  When  I  first 
read  this  requiem  its  thrilling  lines  revived  in  my 
memory  that  quiet  afternoon  in  the  Springfield 
law-office,  and  Lincoln's  first  reading  and  com 
ments  on  Leaves  of  Grass.  That  scene  was  so  viv 
idly  recalled  then  as  to  become  more  firmly  fixed 
in  my  memory  than  any  other  of  the  incidents  at 
the  Lincoln  and  Herndon  office,  and  this  is  my 
apology  for  giving  space  for  rehearsing  it  so  fully 
here. 

Lincoln's  manner  as  a  reader  differed  greatly 
from  his  public  speaking.  He  read  very  slowly, 
with  strong  stress  and  emphasis  at  times,  to 
bring  out  any  peculiar  meaning  that  strongly 
impressed  him  in  what  he  was  reading.  I  cannot 
fix  this  in  the  mind  of  my  reader  better  than  by 
giving  the  letter  he  wrote  to  James  C.  Conkling, 
enclosing  the  fuller  open  letter  or  appeal  he  had 


128  Abraham  Lincoln 

addressed  to  the  " Unconditional  Union  Meeting" 
to  be  held  September  3,  1863,  at  Springfield, 
Ills.,  and  to  be  read  there  by  Mr.  Conkling. 

WAR  DEPARTMENT, 
Washington  City,  D.  C.,  Aug.  27,  1863. 

MY  DEAR  CONKLING: 

I  cannot  leave  here  now.     Herewith  is  a  letter 
instead.     You  are  one  of  the  best  public  readers, — 
I  have  but  one  suggestion, — read  it  very  slowly. 
And  now  God  bless  you,  and  all  good  Union  men. 
Yours  as  ever, 

A.  LINCOLN. 

Mr.  Conkling  read  this  shorter  note  first,  before 
reading  Lincoln's  lengthy  letter  at  the  "Uncondi 
tional  Union  Meeting."  The  letters  were  read  by 
Mr.  Conkling  at  several  other  union  rallies  held 
that  month  in  adjoining  counties  for  enlisting 
volunteers. 

James  C.  Conkling  was  a  near  and  valued  friend 
of  Lincoln.  He  was  a  man  of  refined  culture,  with 
the  deserved  reputation  of  great  stability  of  char 
acter.  His  personal  appearance  was  commanding, 
and  Lincoln  could  have  selected  none  at  his 
former  home  better  fitted  to  deliver  his  letter. 
Conkling  had  an  unusually  clear- toned,  far-reach 
ing  voice  for  out-of-door  speaking.  He  was  by 


Last  Law  Partner  129 

far  the  best  elocutionist  of  the  Springfield  bar, 
and  the  "reading  slowly, "  as  requested  by  Lincoln, 
was  complied  with  in  the  delivery  of  every  sen 
tence.  The  serious  attention  of  those  who  heard 
the  original  manuscript  so  impressively  delivered, 
or  read  it  after  publication  in  the  press  through 
out  the  country,  recognized  it,  even  in  the  intense 
tension  the  nation  was  under  through  those  weeks, 
as  the  most  apt  and  inspiring  of  Lincoln's  presi 
dential  appeals  to  his  fellow-countrymen  up  to 
the  close  of  1863. 

Enough  has  been  said  of  the  life  at  Lincoln  and 
Herndon's  office  to  show  Lincoln's  interest  in 
books  and  literary  friends  during  that  period  of 
his  life.  Professor  Bateman's  office,  adjoining  the 
law-office,  was  an  educational  centre  for  publishers 
and  their  agents,  as  well  as  for  teachers  and  col 
lege  men.  As  mentioned  elsewhere,  Lincoln  was 
as  often  to  be  found  there  as  in  his  own  office. 
Most  of  the  school-books  with  which  publishers  so 
liberally  supplied  Superintendent  Bateman  were 
examined  and  discussed  there  by  him  and  Lincoln 
with  as  much  interest  as  if  the  latter  were  an 
educator. 

Emerson  and  Carlyle  were  greatly  admired  by 
Herndon,  but  Lincoln  cared  little  for  either.  He 


130  Abraham  Lincoln 

enjoyed  particularly  Holmes,.  Theodore  Parker, 
Beecher,  Whittier,  Lowell,  the  elder  Abbott,  and 
Hawthorne.  He  cared  little  for  fiction,  though 
Mrs.  Stowe's  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  moved  him 
deeply  while  reading  it.  His  literary  taste  was 
keen  and  delicate,  and  his  zest  for  the  best  in  cur 
rent  literature  was  unerring  to  recognize  and  appre 
ciate  beauty  of  style  and  strength  of  personality 
in  a  writer's  method  of  expressing  thought.  He 
was  deeply  moved  only  by  such  writing.  His 
likes  and  dislikes  in  literature  were  quick,  strong, 
and  positive,  a  few  brief  glances,  a  sentence  read 
here  and  there,  a  hasty  turning  of  leaves,  sufficed 
with  him  for  a  decision  to  toss  the  book  aside,  or 
to  make  it  his  own  as  he  found  leisure  to  read  it. 
Lincoln  was  an  earnest  seeker  of  the  best  thought 
and  form  in  literature. 

Lincoln  when  with  Herndon,  his  last  law  part 
ner,  and  the  office  family, — with  Bateman  and  his 
educational  friends,  at  the  State  Library  with  book 
lovers  he  met  there, — was  entirely  different  from 
the  Lincoln  that  was  known  in  Court  circles,  or 
among  the  hale-fellow  friends  at  taverns  on  the 
rounds  of  the  Eighth  circuit,  or  amid  the  rush  of 
political  conventions  and  noisy  huzzahs  of  stump- 
speaking  campaigns.  He  could  and  he  did  meet  in 
closest  companionship  the  widest  variety  of  men, 


Last  Law  Partner  131 

at  home  with  all  of  them.  He  could  be  comrade 
and  friend  in  full  fellowship  with  all  conditions  of 
men,  because  he  had  lived  a  life  of  the  widest  com 
panionship.  Some  who  thus  met  him  thought  they 
had  measured  all  there  was  in  the  man;  and  as 
they  and  their  friends  thought  they  saw  all  there 
was  in  him,  so  some  few  have  written  him  down 
in  history.  A  sad  and  wearisome  mistake!  No 
friend  or  foe,  none  of  all  the  many  men  who 
were  near  him,  should  ever  claim  to  have  clearly 
seen,  to  have  thoroughly  understood,  or  to  be 
competent  to  interpret,  all  in  the  life  of  Abraham 
Lincoln. 

Of  all  the  men  who  have  sat  in  the  White  House, 
he  was  the  one  who  had  lived  nearest,  and  most 
understandingly  nearest,  to  all  the  people.  His 
life  Was  nourished  and  enriched  by  that  rare  and 
difficult  culture  to  be  gleaned  only  from  close  as 
sociations  with  all  the  people;  until  in  his  coun 
try's  hour  of  supremest  need,  he  was  found  to  be 
the  one  so  thoroughly  prepared  that  he  was  com 
petent  to  stand  forth  as  The  First  American;  vic 
toriously  to  live  and  die  for  all  the  people;  "that 
this  nation,  under  God,  should  have  a  new  birth 
of  freedom;  and  that  government  of  the  people, 
by  the  people,  and  for  the  people,  shall  not  perish 
from  the  earth." 


132  Abraham  Lincoln 

In  my  library  is  a  little  morocco-bound  book, 
five  by  seven  inches,  and  less  than  an  inch  thick. 
On  its  front  cover,  in  large  gilt  lettering,  faded 
and  worn  like  the  leather,  is  inscribed,  "AUTO 
GRAPHS.  "  Opening  it,  I  copy  a  page,  first  giving 
some  mention  connected  with  its  writing,  as  an 
appropriate  leaf  of  these  incidents  in  the  office 
life  at  Lincoln  &  Herndon's.  Coming  into  the 
office  with  this  book  (just  from  the  bindery)  in  my 
hand,  it  attracted  Lincoln's  attention.  Taking 
it  from  me,  and  finding  the  pages  blank,  he  asked 
what  it  was  to  be  used  for.  I  explained  that 
I  meant  to  procure  from  time  to  time  autographs 
of  friends,  and  I  had  brought  it  with  me  then 
to  get  his  signature  for  the  first  page  of  the  book. 
As  I  spoke,  he  was  caressingly  stroking  with  his 
strong  hands  the  soft  new  leather.  He  opened  it, 
playing  the  gilt-edged  leaves  through  his  fingers 
for  a  brief  moment ;  placed  it,  open  at  the  first  page, 
on  the  table  before  him,  took  his  pen  and  wrote: 

To-day,  Feb.  23,  1858,  the  owner  honored  me 
with  the  privilege  of  writing  the  first  name  in  this 

book — 

A.    LINCOLN — 

Handing  the  open  book  back  to  me  he  said: 
"Henry,  that  is  the  first  book  for  such  a  purpose 


/trs 


<rwTL 


ltt* 
i/  ' 

vt- 


*ay 
<+* 


133 


134  Abraham  Lincoln 

I  ever  saw,  and  of  course  the  only  one  I  have  ever 
written  my  name  in."  I  placed  the  book  next 
before  Mr.  Herndon,  and  requested  him  to  write 
on  the  same  page.  He  read  Lincoln's  lines, 
paused,  as  if  considering  what  he  would  write, 
then  took  his  pen  and  rapidly  wrote: 

The  struggles  of  this  age  and  succeeding  ages  for 
God  and  man — Religion — Humanity  and  Liberty — 
with  all  their  complex  and  grand  relations — may  they 
triumph  and  conquer  forever,  is  my  ardent  wish  and 
most  fervent  soul-prayer. 

WM.  H.  HERNDON. 

Feb.  23rd,  1858. 

When  the  reader  will  recall  that  this  book  was  a 
souvenir  for  a  youth  just  past  twenty — immature 
as  most  young  men  were,  turned  out  at  that  age 
in  the  primitive  West — the  tolerant,  gentle-spirited 
thought  which  Lincoln  traced  to  satisfy  a  youth 
(and  this  only  a  few  months  before  his  celebrated 
debates  with  Mr.  Douglas),  says  in  and  between 
its  lines  more  than  any  words  of  mine  now  could 
of  his  genial,  gentlemanly  manner  toward  all  who 
approached  him.  I  never  knew  a  man  whom  I 
would  have  been  more  willing  to  send  to  heaven 
on  his  own  merits,  nor  one  who  would  be  less 
willing  to  go  there  on  such  a  recommendation. 


Last  Law  Partner  135 

The  junior  partner's  more  extended  lines  reveal 
their  marked  difference  in  temperament,  and  in  a 
flashlight  disclose  the  virility  and  high  ideals  that 
then  inspired  Herndon  in  those  strenuous  years. 
The  word  "Liberty"  was  underscored  by  him, 
and  that  scored  line  means  to  those  who  lived 
through  the  fifties  and  sixties  of  the  nineteenth 
century  much  more  than  will  be  appreciated  now. 
It  was  the  mistake  of  Mr.  Herndon 's  life  that  he 
did  not  become  a  college  professor  rather  than  a 
lawyer. 

From  the  beginning  of  the  Herndon  partnership, 
the  chief  interest  of  both  partners, — after  the  dis 
charge  of  strictly  law  duties  to  their  clients, — was 
in  national  politics.  Mr.  Herndon  was  not  an  as 
pirant  for  office,  and  only  once  was  a  candidate, 
when  he  was  elected  Mayor  of  Springfield  for  a 
single  term.  This  was  without  his  solicitation,  and 
against  his  personal  wish.  It  would  have  been 
better  for  him  and  his  country  had  he  possessed 
more  personal  and  political  ambitions.  He  needed 
that  steadying  process  which,  under  public  official 
responsibility  and  criticism,  can  give  stability  to 
character. 

With  Lincoln,  political  interests  were  personal. 
He  was  more  ambitious  to  deal  publicly  with 


136  Abraham  Lincoln 

problems  in  national  politics  than  persistent  for 
office.  Mrs.  Lincoln  was  always  an  inspiration, 
and  sometimes  a  prodding  one,  to  her  husband's 
ambition,  because  of  her  personal  belief  that  high 
national  preferment  awaited  him  politically,  if 
she,  with  others,  could  only  keep  him  steadfastly 
aspiring  thereto.  More  than  most  men  of  his 
exceptional  ability,  Lincoln  needed  this  prod.  For 
this  service  there  is  a  large,  and  as  yet  unrecog 
nized  debt  of  gratitude  due  from  the  American 
people  to  Mary  Todd  Lincoln.  This  is  another 
story,  yet  one  of  such  importance  that  the  history 
of  those  years  cannot  be  fully  understood  and  is 
only  partly  told,  if  her  intense  and  loyal  devotion 
to  her  husband's  political  interests  and  ambition 
be  left  out.  Later,  when  the  stress  of  public  dis 
cussion  rose  to  more  than  fever  heat  in  1858,  and 
thence  on  to  the  fiercer  white  heat  of  1860  and 
succeeding  years,  Lincoln  was  in  the  current's  full 
pressure  and  momentum,  and  these  held  him  to 
ambitions  with  a  steadiness  that  in  former  years 
he  had  often  lacked.  Fortunately,  his  wife  and 
other  judicious  friends  were  then  inspiring  in 
fluences. 

As  before  said,  the  study  of  national  politics 
was  pursued  with  unusual  interest  by  both  Mr. 


Last  Law  Partner  137 

Lincoln  and  his  partner.  Besides  the  full  use  of  all 
the  Illinois  State  Journal's  exchanges,  they  took 
regularly  at  the  office,  up  to  the  closing  of  Southern 
mails  by  the  Confederate  States  in  1861,  the 
Charleston  Mercury,  the  Richmond  Enquirer,  and 
the  Louisville  Journal,  also  the  Southern  Literary 
Messenger,  an  able  monthly  political  and  literary 
magazine,  formerly  edited  by  Edgar  A.  Poe,  and 
later  by  Hon.  J.  R.  Thompson.  This  was  a 
periodical  of  unusual  ability,  published  at  Rich 
mond,  Virginia,  and  Lincoln  gave  no  other  periodi 
cal  that  came  to  the  office  the  attention  he  gave 
to  this.  He  had7preserved  an  accumulation  of 
these  Southern  Literary  Messengers  on  top  of  one 
of  the  office  presses,  and  he  directed  my  attention 
to  them  a  few  weeks  before  setting  out  for  Washing 
ton,  while  sorting  up  odds  and  ends  about  the 
office,  saying  that  he  wished  me  to  take  charge 
of  them  and  to  have  them  bound  and  kept  for  him 
until  he  should  return  to  the  office  life  again,  a 
purpose  which  he  often  spoke  of  as  being  his 
intention.  This  I  did,  and  they  are  now  in  my 
library.  They  comprise  no  one  year's  numbers 
complete,  but  the  broken  set  is  highly  valued,  for 
with  it  are  associated  the  memory  of  Lincoln,  and 
his  wish  to  have  them  put  into  preservable  shape 
for  his  future  use. 


138  Abraham  Lincoln 

The  State  Journal's  editorial  rooms  began  to  have 
more  alluring  attractions  for  Lincoln  than  the 
Springfield  court  room.  He  contributed  political 
editorials  for  the  Journal,  more  or  less  regularly; 
and  Mr.  Herndon  did  more  often.  The  latter 
had  several  correspondents  among  prominent  Abo 
litionists  of  Ohio  and  New  England,  and  he  read 
and  discussed  their  letters,  as  well  as  his  replies, 
with  Lincoln.  The  most  remarkable  circumstance 
that  now  impresses  me,  as  I  look  back  over  daily 
intimacies  with  this  law  firm  from  1856  to  1861, 
was  the  student-like  way  in  which  they  both  stead 
fastly  kept  the  average  political  affairs  of  the  whole 
nation  under  attention;  using  all  sources  and,  in 
their  private  conferences  and  discussions  with  each 
other,  reviewing  and  sifting  all  conflicting  opinions 
on  national  questions  that  came  to  their  office 
table  from  North  and  South,  East  and  West.  Had 
they  foreseen  the  political  and  executive  battles 
before  Lincoln,  his  preparation  could  not  have 
been  more  thorough,  exact,  and  comprehensive  to 
fit  him  for  his  duties  as  President  in  1861-65.  It 
was  his  wish  that  led  to  their  subscribing  for 
Southern  papers  and  periodicals,  and  he  was  a 
more  diligent  reader  of  these  than  his  partner. 
The  latter  had  first  supplied  the  office  table  with 
the  leading  Abolitionist  papers  of  the  North.  It 


Last  Law  Partner  139 

was  their  first  discussions  on  the  extreme  opinions 
which  Northern  papers  presented  which  brought 
the  Southern  views,  represented  in  Southern  pa 
pers  to  the  office  table.  This  was  Lincoln's  sug 
gestion  and  choice,  for,  as  he  then  expressed  it: 
"Let  us  have  both  sides  on  our  table;  each  is  en 
titled  to  its  'day  in  court.'  " 

I  do  not  say  that  Lincoln's  change  of  opinion 
leading  up  to  the  marked  change  about  1854, 
depended  upon,  or  was  brought  about,  by  this  or 
that  special  person  or  environment.  He  was  not  a 
man  of  ordinary  mould.  He  cannot  be  measured 
by  any  conventional  yardstick.  He  reacted  so 
slowly  from  and  to  the  mental  stimulus  of  printed 
pages,  or  of  his  personal  surroundings,  that  it  is 
hard  properly  to  estimate  the  power  or  extent  of 
the  influence  these  had  with  him.  But  most  as 
suredly  he  was  impressible  and  did  react.  Yet  it 
must  be  said  with  emphasis  that  one  could  never 
anticipate  what  effect  a  thought  or  argument 
brought  to  his  attention  would  have  to  influence 
him,  or  what  his  retort  or  answer  would  be,  or 
how  long  afterward  it  would  be  made.  His  men 
tal  character  was  one  of  unusual  depth  and  poise. 
Part  of  a  sentence  from  one  of  Theodore  Parker's 
political  sermons,  read  aloud  in  1857  by  Herndon 


140  Abraham  Lincoln 

in  his  office,  and  to  which  Lincoln  listened  atten 
tively,  discussing  the  political  and  rhetorical  pecu 
liarities  of  it  with  Herndon  and  two  young  friends 
then  present,  years  afterwards  flashed  into  the 
Gettysburg  speech  as  part  of  one  of  its  immortal 
sentences,  viz.,  "of  the  people,  by  the  people,  for 
the  people."  This  peculiarity  was  often  shown  by 
him  in  the  apt  and  pertinent  biblical  quotations 
in  his  writings  and  speeches,  throughout  his  presi 
dential  years. 

While  giving  due  credit  to  all  other  influences 
surrounding  him,  it  must  be  conceded  that  the 
deepest  influence  that  entered  into  Lincoln's  char 
acter  during  this  last  partnership  was  the  strength 
of  Herndon's  anti-slavery  views,  and  the  political 
literature  in  the  study  of  which  they  had  been 
united  for  so  many  years.  At  the  same  time.  Mr. 
Herndon  was  turned  aside  from  his  former  ex 
treme  Abolitionist  views,  by  Lincoln's  wider  and 
more  practical  vision  of  the  political  situation  at 
that  time.  Lincoln's  influence  over  Herndon  was 
not  limited  to  political  affairs,  though  these  have 
naturally  received  more  special  consideration. 
From  the  day  in  1837  when  Lincoln,  after  looking 
at  Speed's  room  upstairs  and  leaving  his  saddle 
bags,  and,  on  returning,  told  Speed  that  he  had 
moved,  these  two  occupied  with  Speed  the  same 


Last  Law  Partner  141 

room  over  his  store.  Thenceforth  until  Lincoln's 
departure  for  Washington  in  1861,  his  influence 
over  Herndon  was  a  controlling  one.  It  was  a 
quaint,  peculiar  power  that  Lincoln  exerted;  silent, 
steady,  masterful.  No  father  or  brother  ever  ex 
erted  a  more  complete  control  over  his  own  kin 
than  did  this  senior  partner  over  his  junior.  It 
was  not  a  changeful  influence  only  occasionally 
exercised,  but  one  constantly  maintained  through 
out  the  period  of  their  close  personal  relations.  On 
the  other  hand,  aside  from  political  subjects,  Hern 
don  had  little,  if  any  influence,  over  Lincoln.  Their 
habits  of  thought  and  methods  of  composition 
were  as  wide  apart  as  the  poles.  The  poetry  of 
Bailey's  Festus,  the  writings  of  Carlyle  and  Im- 
manuel  Kant  charmed  Herndon,  while  it  was  Whit 
man,  Burns,  and  Shakespeare  of  whom  Lincoln 
became  more  and  more  fond.  The  authors  men 
tioned  indicate  the  wide  difference  of  their  literary 
tastes. 

This  strong  personal  influence  of  the  senior  part 
ner  did  not  cease  while  Lincoln  resided  in  Wash 
ington.  During  those  years  of  separation  Herndon 
spurned  all  approaches  by  reporters  desiring  to 
secure  his  opinion  of  Lincoln's  policies  and  views 
as  already  revealed,  or  his  forecast  of  the  Presi 
dent's  future  course  in  the  discharge  of  his  execu- 


142  Abraham  Lincoln 

tive  duties  at  Washington.  His»loyalty  to  Lincoln 
was  such  as  to  render  him  extremely  careful  in  ex 
pressing  his  own  opinions  on  vital  national  ques 
tions  in  advance  of  definite  information  as  to  the 
President's  position.  Herndon  is  entitled  to 
great  credit  for  his  discreet  reticence  regarding 
President  Lincoln's  official  actions,  for  he  was 
not  naturally  a  secretive  or  prudent  man ;  and  at 
that  time  many  things  were  going  entirely  too 
slowly  to  suit  his  impetuous  temperament  and 
radical  views. 

After  the  spring  of  1858  there  is  little  to  narrate 
concerning  legal  and  literary  matters  transpiring 
in  the  office  of  Lincoln  and  Herndon.  The  time 
and  energy  of  the  firm  became  actively  engaged 
in  the  exciting  political  affairs  of  the  State  and 
Nation.  As  mentioned  elsewhere,  Lincoln,  in  the 
early  months  of  1858  devoted  himself  almost 
exclusively  to  the  preparation  and  revising  of 
his  great  speech  to  be  delivered  June  16,  1858, 
following  his  nomination  by  the  Republican  State 
Convention  as  their  candidate  for  United  States 
Senator  in  opposition  to  Senator  Douglas.  After 
that,  until  the  great  debates  with  Douglas  began, 
he  was  busied  in  preparation  for  that  remarkable 
series  of  speeches.  From  that  time  on  Lincoln 


Last  Law  Partner  143 

gave  scarcely  any  personal  attention  to  clients 
in  the  routine  of  the  office  practice. 

Herndon,  with  the  clerical  assistance  of  the 
office  students,  attended  to  this  practice,  depend 
ing  upon  Lincoln  to  appear  only  in  the  most 
important  cases  where  clients  insisted  on  hfe 
personal  presence  at  the  trial.  It  was  wonderful 
to  us  young  men  how  quickly  the  chief  grasped 
everything  in  the  cases  thus  prepared  and  pre 
sented  for  his  consideration.  Such  summary  of 
evidence  and  decisions  pertinent  to  these  cases 
were  usually  brought  to  his  attention  just  before 
the  trial,  in  night  meetings  at  the  office.  His 
days  were  full  of  other  affairs.  His  capacity 
and  power  for  intense  mental  concentration  at 
such  conferences  enabled  him  to  master,  in  a  very 
brief  time,  the  important  points  involved  in  the 
suits  into  which  he  was  called  by  Mr.  Herndon. 
So  thorough  was  this  mastery  that  he  usually 
took  the  principal  part  in  conducting  these  cases, 
whether  the  trial  was  before  juries  or  the  judge. 
Some  of  the  most  important  suits  in  which  he 
ever  appeared  were  tried  during  these  last  two 
years  of  his  active  legal  practice.  The  strength 
and  control  of  his  mental  powers,  as  shown  by  this 
faculty  of  concentration,  stood  out  more  promi 
nently  before  the  students  in  the  office  than  at 


144  Abraham  Lincoln 

any  previous  time.  Herndon  Jiimself  on  several 
occasions  expressed  his  surprise  that  Lincoln  could 
be  so  occupied  in  political  affairs  and  yet  at  the 
same  time  could  so  fully  grasp  and  retain  the  com 
plicated  details  of  lawsuits,  never  blundering  as  to 
either  the  facts  of  the  evidence  or  the  points  of 
law  while  in  the  stress  of  the  court  trials. 

The  work  he  could  accomplish  in  the  way  of 
preparing  briefs  for  presenting  before  the  Supreme 
Court,  during  the  few  hours  after  the  rest  of  us 
had  left  the  office  and  gone  home,  was  a  surprise 
the  next  morning  to  us  all  who  had  participated 
in  the  details  of  their  preparation  up  to  the  night 
before,  preparatory  to  Lincoln's  arrangement  and 
final  statements.  He  desired  to  be  left  alone  after 
having  once  gone  over  these  cases.  It  irritated 
him,  he  said,  to  thresh  over  straw  a  second  time. 
Any  young  man  in  the  office  whose  zeal  for  a 
client's  case  led  him  into  any  restatement  of 
evidence  would  be  sure  to  get  some  quaint  reproof 
that  we  all  were  careful  not  to  merit  again. 

Musing  upon  these  memories  of  the  office  life 
in  the  early  and  later  part  of  1858,  I  recall  how 
little  we  were  then  conscious  of  the  serious  changes 
in  the  life  of  the  firm  which  were  even  then  immi 
nent.  I  have  related  elsewhere  something  of 


Last  Law  Partner  145 

Lincoln's  preparations  for  his  debates  with  Douglas 
in  the  senatorial  canvass  of  that  year,  and  also 
for  the  Cooper  Institute  speech.  There  is  little 
to  say  further  of  the  life  in  the  office  than  has  been 
already  stated  on  the  subject  in  connection  with 
other  chapters.  . 

The  closing  hour  of  Lincoln's  presence  there 
came  on  the  evening  of  February  10,  1861,  when 
he  and  Mr.  Herndon  passed  down  the  stairway 
for  the  last  time.  Lincoln  had  just  before  re 
quested  Mr.  Herndon  to  let  the  office  sign  remain 
and  conduct  business  in  the  firm's  name  as  it  had 
been,  until  he  should  return  to  Springfield  when, 
he  said,  they  would  resume  their  legal  practice  the 
same  "as  if  nothing  had  happened." 

The  departure  of  Abraham  Lincoln  from  Spring 
field  measured  a  larger  loss  to  our  city  than  that  of 
any  other  citizen  who  ever  left  us.  During  the 
five  years  following  his  departure,  the  little  swing 
ing  sign, — "Lincoln  and  Herndon," — was  a  re 
minder  and  assurance  that  some  day  the  senior 
partner  would  return  and  go  in  and  out  as  of  yore, 
brightening  our  city  by  his  presence  and  genial 
personality  as  none  other  ever  had  done.  Lincoln 
had  no  foes  among  us  other  than  political,  and 


146  Abraham  Lincoln 

even  these  when  they  came  near  enough  to  him, 
forgot  their  partisanship  and  learned  to  love 
him.  The  little  sign  had  hung  outside  the  narrow 
stairway  entrance  to  the  office,  with  its  inviting 
welcome  to  friend  and  foe  alike,  for  twenty-one 
years.  None  of  us  were  prepared  for  the  startling 
shock  that  came  when  black  drapery  covered  it 
and  darkened  the  familiar  stairway  and  office 
front  on  the  terrible  morning  following  America's 
darkest  night  of  April  14,  1865.  The  end  had 
come.  The  sign  was  removed  only  when  the  bul 
let  of  the  pro-slavery  assassin  Booth  dissolved 
the  firm,  and  the  senior  partner  passed  beyond 
his  strange,  strenuous,  sacrificial  life  here  below. 
That  day,  after  martyrdom  closed  this  law  firm, 
was  the  saddest  that  ever  came  to  Springfield,  the 
darkest  one  recorded  in  the  nation's  history;  for 
in  the  hour  of  our  supremest  need,  we  had  lost 
our  First  American. 

Lincoln's  death  was  in  many  ways  the  severest 
stroke  that  ever  came  into  the  personal  life  of 
Herndon.  He  had  come  under  his  influence  in 
the  wild  and  reckless  years  of  student  life.  There 
after,  for  twenty-eight  years  he  had  depended 
upon  and  had  the  strength  and  masterful  poise  of 
Lincoln's  influence  to  steady  his  life.  The  last 


Last  Law  Partner  147 

five  of  those  years,  though  Lincoln  was  so  far 
away,  he  had  exercised  a  no  less  active  restraint 
over  Herndon.  Lincoln  was  to  return.  Life 
with  the  partners  was  again  to  be  resumed  "as 
if  nothing  had  happened."  This  expectation 
had  braced  Herndon  up  for  meeting  and  deserving 
that  anticipated  future.  It  had  warmed  and 
strengthened  him  during  the  waiting  years. 

After  Lincoln's  death  it  became  Herndon's  am 
bition  to  write  a  great  life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 
Hindrances  hedged  him  about  in  many  ways  and 
prevented  his  doing  this  as  he  had  first  planned. 
He  lost  his  first  wife  who,  with  their  children, 
had  given  him  domestic  quiet  and  happiness. 
A  second  marriage  was  less  fortunate.  Then  his 
father's  death  brought  him  a  considerable  estate 
that  came  under  his  management  at  an  unfortu 
nate  time  of  general  financial  depression.  Debts 
accumulated,  and  false  friends  took  advantage 
of  his  confiding  nature  until  his  part  of  the  estate 
was  greatly  reduced,  and  his  last  days  were  so 
filled  with  bread- winning  tasks  that  they  became 
drudgery  to  him.  He  had  never  had  any  aptitude 
or  experience  to  fit  him  for  the  life  of  a  business 
man.  The  anxieties  that  necessarily  fill  such  a 
life  were  hardships  too  severe  for  one  of  his  na- 


148  Abraham  Lincoln 

ture  to  master.  They  ground  tEe  book  lover  and 
idealist  in  a  way  that  was  pitiful  to  those  who 
knew  him  intimately. 

It  was  amid  such  untoward  circumstances  as 
these  that  he  had  been  forced  to  find  all  the  time 
which  he  could  devote  to  contribute  to  those 
manuscripts  which,  in  collaboration  with  others, 
he  prepared  for  the  press.  He  honoured  the 
memory  of  Lincoln  sincerely  and  was  full  of  good 
intentions  to  do  justice  to  his  great  life  by  telling 
all  the  truth,  as  he  understood  it.  He  was,  how 
ever,  over-confident  in  the  opinion  that  he  knew 
Lincoln,  as  he  expressed  it,  "  better  than  Lincoln 
knew  himself.'*  How  many  others,  with  much 
less  reason  to  say  so,  have  made  this  mistake? 
God  alone  knew  the  man  He  had  sent  and  pre 
pared  for  the  task.  An  hundred  years  more  may 
elapse  before  this  life  can  find  a  historian  large 
and  clear  visioned  enough  to  write  into  the  pages 
of  history  the  full  and  correct  proportions  of 
Abraham  Lincoln's  life  and  services. 

The  great  confidence  Herndon  had  in  himself, 
his  assurance  that  he  had  exhausted  all  the  facts 
that  ever  could  be  reached,  misled  him.  Then  the 
intensity  of  his  emotions  and  the  aggressive, 
restless  vehemence  of  his  vocabulary  led  him 


Last  Law  Partner  149 

at  times  still  further  astray.  In  so  far  as  he  failed 
it  was  not  for  lack  of  honesty  or  purity  of  purpose. 
He  wished  to  deal  fairly  with  the  material  he  had 
collected,  but  his  collation  was  incomplete,  and 
his  interpretations  were  found  to  be  not  always 
correct;  besides,  his  own  personal  peculiarities 
and  some  preconceived  opinions  hampered  him 
with  limitations  he  could  not  always  overcome. 
Perhaps  more  than  all  else,  he  was  peculiarly  sen 
sitive  and  responsive  to  the  sensational  stimulus 
of  the  collaborators  and  publishers  with  whom  he 
was  associated  in  bringing  out  the  several  bio 
graphies  of  our  great  President  with  which  his 
name  is  connected.  These  facts  sufficiently  ac 
count  for  his  incomplete  and  unsatisfactory  treat 
ment  of  some  portions  of  the  Lincoln  biographies 
which  he  was  sponsor  to.  Howbeit,  we  should 
not  allow  these  imperfections  and  his  shortcom 
ings  to  obscure  or  lessen,  in  any  measure,  the  sub 
stantial  obligations  history  will  be  under  for  the 
valuable  contributions  Herndon  has  made  by  his 
revelations  of  so  much  that  he  was  intimate  with 
in  the  life  of  Lincoln,  and  whose  personality  he 
has,  by  his  vivid  imagination  and  forceful  rhetoric, 
projected  into  history  for  the  future  better  un 
derstanding  of  our  great  President's  remarkable 
life. 


150  Abraham  Lincoln 

For  some  time  after  that  fat*eful  day  of  April 
14,  1865,  the  old  office  of  Lincoln  and  Herndon 
was  left  most  desolate.  The  young  men  who 
were  there  from  1858  to  1861  had  all  left  and  no 
others  had  filled  their  places.  The  junior  partner 
remained  but  he  was  never  the  same  "Billy" 
Herndon  again.  One  partner  after  another  took 
the  vacant  chair,  but  none  ever  filled  to  him  his 
senior's  place,  or  steadied  and  strengthened  him 
in  so  many  ways  as  his  first  partner  had  done. 
He  missed  Lincoln  every  hour.  Wearied  with 
law  and  politics  and  the  unresting  throngs  about 
him,  and  oppressed  by  many  cares  history  needs 
not  to  mention,  he  left  the  office  at  length  and 
sought  quiet  and  rest  in  the  work  and  solitude 
of  his  farm.  He  found  that  even  these  good 
nurses  could  not  long  give  solace  to  his  restless 
life.  Earth  could  never  give  him  the  rest  he 
sought. 

He  was  now  an  old  man,  bent  and  aged  beyond 
his  years.  He  was  still  fond  of  outdoor  life,  and 
communings  with  forest  and  field.  He  loved 
nature  with  a  love  akin  to  the  mother-love  of  a 
dutiful  son.  He  was  a  great  walker  and  was 
often  seen  early  in  the  morning,  or  returning  in  the 
late  afternoon,  walking  back  and  forth  over  the 
five  miles  between  his  farm  and  the  city  where 


Last  Law  Partner  151 

his  active  years  had  been  spent ;  but  now  his  only 
mission  there  was  to  see  his  children,  meet  a  few 
friends,  get  his  mail,  and  carry  back  and  forth 
some  of  the  books  he  still  loved  so  sincerely.  He 
was  no  recluse ;  he  was  companionable  and  lovable 
to  the  last.  But  he  was  a  shattered  man.  The 
assassin's  bullet  that  paralysed  his  senior  partner's 
heart  reached  also  the  vital  forces  of  the  life  of  the 
junior.  His  once  brave  heart  beat  slower  and  less 
steadily;  no  longer  did  it  drive  those  currents 
throbbing  through  his  veins,  filling  his  life  as  in 
earlier  years  with  an  energy  and  abounding  vigor 
such  as  few  mortals  ever  possessed. 

Life  had  once  been,  through  its  every  day,  a 
thrilling  joy  to  Herndon.  I  never  have  known  a 
friend  who  could  live  so  much  in  a  day,  or  inspire 
with  more  energy  those  about  him.  This  was  all 
changed.  It  had  become  his  lot  to  linger  on 
through  years  which  to  him  meant  little;  the  sad 
dest,  loneliest  one  of  all  the  intimate  friends  my 
life  has  ever  been  close  to.  He  said  to  a  friend 
on  meeting  him  for  the  last  time:  "If  you  see 
my  good  friend  Death,  tell  him  I  am  ready  and 
am  very  weary  waiting  for  him  and  wish  he 
would  come  soon."  It  was  not  long  he  waited. 
The  delayed  guest  arrived  suddenly  at  the  last. 
Those  ultimate  problems  of  man's  origin  and 


152  Abraham  Lincoln 

destiny  that  had  engrossed  hinr  so  intensely  and 
honestly  through  speculative  studies  during  all 
his  years,  were  now  to  be  faced  for  his  personal 
solution.  Death  found  in  him  the  welcome  of  a 
weary  soul  glad  to  pass  Beyond.  No  longer 
would 

His  way  be  hid.     He  could  not  see 
By  human  lights,  where  he  would  be; 
But  when  this  midnight  bell  did  toll, 
The  Gates  were  opened  for  his  soul, 

In  that  blessed  land; 
In  which  the  burden  and  the  mystery, 
In  which  the  heavy  and  the  weary  weight 
Of  all  this  unintelligible  world 

Is  lightened. 

I  wish  to  borrow  from  my  friend  Joseph  Fort 
Newton  the  words  of  appreciation  he  gave  in  his 
excellent  book,  Lincoln  and  Herndon,  as  expres 
sive  of  my  own  sentiments,  a  last  word  of  estimate 
and  farewell  to  William  H.  Herndon. 

Mr.  Herndon  died  on  March  14,  1891,  at  his  humble 
home  on  his  farm  five  miles  from  Springfield,  his  last 
words  being:  "I  have  received  my  summons;  I  am 
an  overripe  sheaf;  but  I  will  take  the  weaker  one 
with  me," — referring  to  his  son  who  died  the  same 


Last  Law  Partner  153 

day.  So  passed  an  ardent,  impetuous  man  of  great 
native  ability,  radical  of  mind  but  lovable  of  soul; 
a  strong  man  whose  zeal  often  exceeded  his  wisdom, 
but  whose  charity  was  unfailing;  a  man  of  noble 
integrity  as  a  citizen,  a  lawyer,  and  a  friend;  unwilling 
to  compromise  truth,  yet  eager  to  give  every  man  his 
due.  He  has  been  cruelly  misjudged,  if  not  foully 
belied,  but  all  this  may  be  forgotten,  for  he  has 
passed 

"To  where,  beyond  these  voices,  there  is  peace." 


Mrs.  Mary  Todd  Lincoln 

From  an  engraving  by  Sartain,  with  her  signatures 

written  in  1861  and  1871. 

(Courtesy  of  W.  C.  Crane,  Esq.) 


The  Springfield  Life  of 
Mary  Todd  Lincoln 


155 


To  him  she  bore  four  children;  with  him  she  sat 
by  the  death-bed,  and  stood  by  the  graves,  of  two  of 
them.  She  rejoiced  with  him  in  his  successes,  she  con 
doled  with  him  in  his  defeats;  and  whenever  she  saw 
an  opportunity  for  his  advancement,  she  stimulated 
his  ambition  to  compete  for  it.  They  were  en  rapport 
in  all  the  higher  objects  of  being;  when  he  was  nomi 
nated  for  President  his  first  act  was  to  go  home  in 
person  to  break  the  glad  tidings  to  her.  That  the 
nation  is  largely  indebted  to  Mary  Todd  Lincoln 
for  its  autonomy,  I  do  not  doubt,  as  to  the  full  measure 
thereof,  only  God  can  know. 

HENRY  C.  WHITNEY. 


156 


IX 

THE    SPRINGFIELD    LIFE    OF    MARY    TODD    LINCOLN 

IN  1837  Miss  Mary  Todd  visited  her  sister, 
Mrs.  Ninian  Edwards,  at  Springfield,  Illinois, 
and  remained  three  months  before  returning  to 
her  father's  home  at  Lexington,  Kentucky.  She 
was  then  nineteen  years  of  age.  This  first  visit 
was  made  very  pleasant  by  her  sister  and  the 
many  friends  of  the  Edwards  family,  and  two 
years  later  she  returned  to  make  this  city  her 
home.  I  wish  the  reader  to  get  a  correct  impres 
sion  of  her  life  while  she  resided  in  Springfield. 
There  were  some  things  in  her  life  here, — some 
thing  in  her  character,  her  personality,  and  her 
influence, — that  deserve  recognition  and  apprecia 
tion  by  all  who  would  know  Abraham  Lincoln. 

It  was  said  of  her  by  her  friends  in  Lexington, 
that  while  as  a  young  lady  there,  she  mingled 
freely  in  society,  but  never  manifested  any  desire 
for  attention  from  young  men.  Her  home  was 
one  of  refinement  and  her  life  had  been  free  from 

care  and  anxiety  up  to  the  time  she  left.     She 

157 


158  Abraham  Lincoln 

had  spent  the  last  four  years  of  lier  school  life  in  a 
select  French  school,  kept  by  a  Mrs.  Martelli. 
Nothing  but  French  was  spoken,  and  Mary 
acquired  a  thorough  knowledge  of  that  language. 
She  always  kept  it  up,  reading  in  the  original  the 
latest  French  literature  and  the  best  old  French 
authors.  An  incident  illustrating  her  familiarity 
with  the  language  and  her  appreciation  and  in 
terest  in  French  literature  is  worth  relating. 

In  1856,  while  sorting  over  magazines  and 
pamphlets  in  the  Lincoln  and  Herndon  office, 
I  found  among  them  in  the  Southern  Literary 
Messenger  for  September,  1851,  a  letter  of  their 
Paris  correspondent  giving  full  translation  of 
Victor  Hugo's  address  on  capital  punishment, 
delivered  in  connection  with  certain  court  pro 
ceedings.  Knowing  Mrs.  Lincoln's  fondness  for 
French  literature, — Victor  Hugo's  writings  espe 
cially, — and  being  delighted  with  the  oration, 
I  called  -at  the  Lincoln  home  with  the  magazine 
that  she  might  read  it.  She  had  not  seen  it  before 
and  was  as  delighted  in  reading  it  as  any  school 
girl  would  have  been. 

This  address  was  really  part  of  a  speech  delivered 
by  Victor  Hugo  before  a  French  court  in  defence 
of  his  son,  who  was  on  trial  for  "conspiring  against 


Springfield  Life  of  Mrs.  Lincoln  159 

public  order"  by  publishing  in  a  Paris  newspaper 
the  description  of  a  most  gruesome  scene  and 
terrible  struggle  connected  with  the  execution  of 
a  criminal.  The  condemned  man  resisted  the 
officers  in  a  terrific  and  bloody  hand-to-hand 
struggle  for  his  life,  fighting  them  fiercely  for 
three-quarters  of  an  hour  before  they  accomplished 
his  execution.  The  elder  Hugo's  defence  was  one 
of  his  most  brilliant  oratorical  efforts,  and  resulted 
in  the  acquittal  of  his  son. 

The  translation  by  the  Paris  correspondent 
did  not  entirely  satisfy  Mrs.  Lincoln.  She  in 
sisted  that  a  copy  of  the  speech  in  French  should 
be  procured,  the  better  to  show  the  strength  of 
Hugo's  oratory  and  the  difficulty  of  translating 
into  English  a  French  oration  of  such  intense 
feeling  so  as  to  preserve  the  true  Hugo  fire  and 
force.  It  was  two  months  before  the  French 
copy  came.  I  took  it  at  once  to  her,  taking  with 
me  also  the  Paris  correspondent's  translation  in 
the  Southern  Literary  Messenger,  so  that  I  might 
follow  the  thought  while  she  read  the  speech  as 
delivered  in  French.  I  hoped  that  she  would 
read  it  aloud,  which  she  did,  stopping  often  to 
compare  the  translation  with  the  original.  She 
read  with  such  clearness  and  dramatic  fervour, 
and  translated  with  such  sympathy  that,  instead 


160  Abraham  Lincoln 

of  following  the  English  translation,  I  could  only 
sit  entranced  by  the  force  and  effect  of  her  tones 
as  she  translated  or,  at  times,  read  Hugo's  inspiring 
oration  in  his  native  language.  She  was  an 
excellent  reader,  and  her  sympathy  with  French 
was  perfect.  This  incident  occurred  fourteen 
years  after  her  marriage,  and  indicates  how  well 
Mrs.  Lincoln  kept  up  her  school-girl  interests. 

In  personal  appearance  Mrs.  Lincoln  was  not 
strikingly  commanding,  nor  was  she  considered 
handsome.  On  seeing  her  for  the  first  time, 
one  would  be  drawn  to  closer  inspection  by  some 
thing  in  her  features  which,  though  not  of  a  strictly 
regular  or  beautiful  type,  were  yet  pretty  when 
viewed  in  connection  with  her  complexion,  her 
soft  brown  hair,  and  her  clear  blue  eyes  that 
seemed  to  penetrate  the  very  soul  as  she  fixed  them 
steadily  upon  you  while  speaking.  Her  husband 
and  she  were  alike  in  one  particular.  Having 
once  met  and  conversed  with  either,  one  would 
never  forget  the  impression  made  on  one.  Neither 
was  of  a  conventional  type. 

She  had  a  plump  rounded  figure,  and  was 
rather  short  in  stature.  Physically,  mentally, 
emotionally,  she  was  the  extreme  opposite  of 
Mr.  Lincoln.  She  was  exceedingly  sensitive.  Her 


Springfield  Life  of  Mrs.  Lincoln  161 

impulsiveness  of  thought  and  speech  had  no  need 
of  restraint,  because  her  face  was  always  an  unerr 
ing  index  and  reflection  of  her  passing  emotions, 
even  if  she  had  not  expressed  them  in  words.  She 
thought  quickly,  spoke  rapidly;  and  the  expression 
of  her  face  was  always  in  harmony  with  her 
Words.  Without  intending  to  wound,  she  some 
times  indulged  in  sarcastic  or  witty  remarks. 
At  times  of  deep  feeling,  her  words  might  bring 
keen  pain  to  persons  toward  whom  she  felt  kindly. 
It  was  remarked  to  me  by  one  who  had  known 
Mrs.  Lincoln  long  and  very  intimately,  that  her 
frank  and  spirited  manner,  her  candour  of  speech 
and  independence  of  thought,  often  gave  offence 
where  none  was  meant. 

She  was  never  ungracious  towards  strangers 
nor  did  she  ever  intentionally  wound  a  friend. 
She  loved  children  with  the  real  all-mother  love; 
and  when  death  took  her  own  children,  it  was  as 
though  part  of  her  own  life  had  gone  away  with 
them.  Always  and  everywhere  she  showed  her 
refinement  and  dignity  of  character,  entirely  free 
from  affectation  or  the  putting  on  of  manners  for 
special  occasions.  Those  who  were  not  close  to 
her,  or  who  had  not  found  her  pliant  to  their 
wishes,  might  greatly  misjudge  Mrs.  Lincoln. 
If  not  her  friend,  it  required  sometimes  an  effort 


162  Abraham  Lincoln 

not  to  be  her  critic;  or,  with  tfiose  having  similar 
impulsive  peculiarities,  her  enemy.  This  was 
the  sad  and  unfortunate  relation  between  her 
and  Mr.  Herndon;  he  being  markedly  similar  to 
her  in  his  impulsive  antagonisms  and  equally 
unforgiving.  They  began  their  acquaintance 
wrong  and  they  maintained  that  attitude  ever 
after  so  consistently  that  neither  could  see  the 
sterling  qualities  of  the  other. 

The  first  time  they  met  was  at  a  dance  at 
the  residence  of  Col.  Robert  Allen  in  Springfield. 
Herndon  had  engaged  her  for  a  waltz,  and  as 
they  glided  through  it  Herndon  said  that  he  had 
never  before  danced  with  a  young  lady  who 
moved  with  such  grace  and  ease.  A  few  moments 
later,  as  they  were  promenading  through  the  hall, 
Herndon,  to  compliment  her,  said  she  seemed  to 
glide  through  the  waltz  with  the  ease  of  a  serpent. 
She  halted  for  a  moment,  drew  back,  and  her 
eyes  flashed  as  she  retorted:  "Mr.  Herndon, 
comparisons  are  odious,  yours  of  a  serpent  is 
rather  severe  irony,  especially  to  a  newcomer." 
With  a  recoil  from  him, — part  bow  and  part 
courtesy, — she  passed  from  his  side.  They  were 
never  friends  in  all  the  years  afterward.  There 
seemed  to  be  nothing  they  could  unite  on,  to  work 
together  for,  in  a  common  interest  between  them. 


Springfield  Life  of  Mrs.  Lincoln  163 

I  shall  not  in  this  writing  seek  for  or  endeavour 
to  set  forth  all  the  sources,  or  motives,  nor  follow 
the  trail  of  either  the  personality,  or  criticisms, 
of  Mrs.  Lincoln's  foes;  much  less  shall  I  try  to 
account  for  their  animosity.  But  this  significant 
fact  faces  future  historians  who  will  winnow  the 
records  of  these  years  of  the  trash  and  caricatures 
heaped  on  the  memory  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lincoln, 
and  they  cannot  ignore  its  significance: —  That 
the  writers  who  have  exhausted  the  resources  of 
both  gossip  and  fiction  to  write  Mr.  Lincoln's  early 
life  down  in  a  way  calculated  to  coarsen  and 
cheapen  those  years  with  as  much  vulgarity  as 
possible,  are  the  same  writers  from  whom  have 
come  the  attacks  on  Mrs.  Lincoln  in  even  worse 
caricatures,  when  they  have  attempted  to  portray 
her  life  as  maiden,  wife,  and  mother. 

Lapse  of  time,  and  an  accumulation  of  criticisms 
with  which  Mrs.  Lincoln  has  been  assailed  since 
the  death  of  her  illustrious  husband,  has  furnished 
the  occasion,  as  well  as  the  justification,  for  a 
statement  calling  attention  to  the  good  traits 
and  merits  of  her  character,  and  a  recognition  of 
the  excellent  influence  Mrs.  Lincoln  exerted  for 
good  on  Lincoln.  No  fair  and  candid  statement 
of  the  interrelation  and  inspiration  she  had  in 


164  Abraham  Lincoln 

her  husband's  life  while  in  Springfield,  or  of  the 
influence  of  her  personality  as  the  real  inspiration 
of  those  formative  years,  has  been  honestly  given. 
Most  gladly  would  I  prefer  to  pass  in  silence  the 
cruel  aspersions  against  her,  if  by  so  doing  it  would 
contribute  to  the  oblivion  those  slanders  deserve. 
The  silence  of  her  friends  has  been  misconstrued. 
Death,  which,  with  most  all  others,  silences  the 
voice  of  calumny,  in  her  case  stimulated  it. 
Since  this  woman's  life  ceased  and  her  mortal 
remains  were  placed  at  rest  in  the  tomb  beside 
her  illustrious  husband,  an  increasing  accumulation 
of  odium  has  been  heaped  upon  her  memory.  In 
many  respects,  during  her  later  years,  she  was  the 
most  unfortunate  of  all  the  widows  and  mothers, 
either  North  or  South,  that  the  Civil  War  made 
desolate.  She  deserved  a  better  fate,  and  his 
tory  should  give  her  more  just  and  considerate 
treatment. 

I  ask  you  to  hear  something  about  her  life  in 
Springfield  as  I  knew  it.  To  this  I  will  add, 
compositely,  something  of  the  appreciation  she 
inspired  in  many  others  who  knew  her  intimately. 

The  reported  failure  to  meet  a  marriage  date  on 
the  "fatal  January  I,  1840,"  has  been  so  fully 


Springfield  Life  of  Mrs.  Lincoln  165 

disproved  in  later  biographies,  and  by  such  un 
questionable  testimony,  as  to  render  it  unnecessary 
here  to  give  that  story  any  attention  other  than 
some  slight  references  to  its  falsehood  and  absurd 
ity.  There  was  no  licence  issued,  no  wedding 
party,  no  expectant  bride,  and  no  distracted 
bridegroom  wandering  far  away  in  deep  despair. 
That  the  engagement  between  Miss  Todd  and 
Lincoln  was  suspended  in  the  early  days  of  1840, 
is  no  doubt  true.  My  own  opinion,  formed  from 
conversations  I  have  had  with  mutual  friends 
since  1872,  is  that  the  words  "deferred  engage 
ment"  would  more  truly  describe  the  situation. 

Those  writers  who  tell  of  "a  marriage  company 
and  supper  without  a  groom,"  and  of  a  dis 
consolate  maiden  "toying  her  head-dress  in 
nervous  agitation,"  are  guilty  of  a  cruel  fiction. 
Had  such  an  event  happened  in  a  town  the  size  of 
Springfield,  the  story  could  not  have  been  kept 
locked  up  in  the  memory  of  a  few,  and  they 
unfriendly  and  not  social  intimates  of  Miss  Todd 
or  her  Springfield  relatives.  It  would  have  been 
scattered  widely,  a  notorious  piece  of  delightful 
gossip  to  be  published  from  the  circles  of  five 
hundred  homes.  Social  gossip  was  never  more 
active  or  long-lived  than  in  Western  communities 
of  that  period.  Love  and  matrimony  were  its 


166  Abraham  Lincoln 

^ 

staples,  and  a  broken  marriage  date  and  feast 
would  have  been  the  sweetest  of  morsels  to  the 
tongue  of  Madam  Grundy. 

A  visit  made  by  Lincoln  in  company  with 
Joshua  Speed  to  Louisville,  Kentucky,  was 
coincident  with  Speed's  leaving  Springfield  and 
returning  permanently  to  Louisville.  Lincoln 
went  in  response  to  Speed's  invitation.  At  the 
time  he  was  in  one  of  his  periods  of  depression 
from  ill  health,  or  as  he  termed  it,  "attack  of 
hypo,"  aggravated,  probably,  by  the  opposition 
of  Miss  Todd's  relatives  to  their  marriage  and  to 
the  breaking  off,  for  the  time,  of  the  engagement. 
Lincoln  was  sensitive  to  the  reflections  of  Miss 
Todd's  family  on  his  humble  parentage  and 
poverty  as  a  barrier  to  their  marriage.  In  view 
of  this,  he  felt  it  to  be  his  duty  to  all  parties 
concerned  at  that  time  to  release  her  from  her 
promise.  This  he  had  done. 

An  engagement  between  a  couple  with  such 
strongly  marked  mental,  emotional,  and  educa 
tional  differences, — to  say  nothing  of  their  con 
trasting  characteristics,  could  not  be  expected  to 
progress  smoothly  at  all  times,  especially  in  view 
of  the  opposition  of  relatives,  in  such  a  community 
as  Springfield  was  in  the  early  forties,  and  amid 
such  active  social  attractions  as  were  among  Miss 


Springfield  Life  of  Mrs.  Lincoln  167 

Todd's  relatives  and  friends.  Her  guardian  and 
near  friends  planned  for  her  a  marriage  of  wealth 
and  distinction.  She  was,  by  all  odds,  the  reigning 
belle  of  the  little  city.  Lincoln  was  ten  years 
older  than  she.  Pique  and  jealousy  and  tempera 
mental  misunderstandings  among  their  friends 
had  plenty  of  edges  to  cut  and  mar  their  court 
ship,  as  can  easily  be  seen  when  we  look  back 
upon  the  condition  in  which  they  lived.  There 
is  no  need  to  call  up  the  pipe-dream  shadows  of 
a  Salem  story,  and  invoke  the  uncanny  word 
"insanity, "  to  account  for  the  temporary  estrange 
ment  of  Lincoln  and  Miss  Todd  in  1840,  and  his 
extended  visit  with  the  Speeds  at  Louisville. 

I  quote  now  from  Mrs.  Emily  Todd  Helm, — 
a  half-sister  of  Mrs.  Lincoln, — a  statement  written 
by  her  regarding  this  subject : 

There  has  been  so  much  written  and  printed  upon 
the  subject  of  Mrs.  Lincoln's  marriage,  that  I  will 
only  say  that  Mrs.  Lincoln's  family  had  no  knowledge 
of  any  want  of  faith  or  honour  on  Mr.  Lincoln's  part. 
Mrs.  Dr.  Wallace,  Mrs.  Lincoln's  sister,  positively 
asserted  that  there  was  never  but  one  wedding 
arranged  between  Mary  Todd  and  Mr.  Lincoln,  and 
that  was  the  one  that  occurred.  Mr.  Herndon  says 
that  it  was  a  large  wedding,  and  that  Mrs.  Lincoln 


1 68  Abraham  Lincoln 

was  married  in  a  white  silk  dress. "  This  is  an  error, 
and  he  must  have  confused  Mrs.  Lincoln's  wedding 
with  that  of  her  sister,  Mrs.  Wallace,  who  was  married 
a  little  before.  Mrs.  Lincoln,  by  preference,  had  a 
quiet  marriage.  Mrs.  Wallace  says  that  on  a  Sunday 
morning  Mr.  Lincoln  and  Mary  Todd  called  Mrs. 
Edwards  to  where  they  were  sitting,  and  told  her 
they  had  decided  to  be  married  that  evening.  Mrs. 
Wallace  was  sent  for,  and  she  says  that  she  never 
worked  harder  in  her  life  than  on  that  day.  Only  a 
few  people  were  present.  Mr.  Dresser,  the  minister, 
held  a  short  service  in  his  church,  and  afterward 
went  up  to  Mr.  Edwards's  house,  where  the  mar 
riage  took  place.  There  were  present  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Benjamin  Edwards,  Major  and  Mrs.  John 
Todd  Stuart,  Dr.  John  Todd  and  family,  Dr.  and 
Mrs.  Wallace,  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ninian  W.  Ed 
wards.  The  bride  was  clad  in  a  simple  white  muslin 
dress. 

Dismissing  the  fictitious  wedding  picture,  we 
find  Lincoln,  immediately  on  his  return  from 
Louisville,  writing  back  to  his  friends  there  that 
he  is  made  very  happy  by  hearing  that  Miss 
Todd,  who  had  gone  with  a  train  load  of  merry 
young  folks  on  a  trip  to  Jacksonville,  was  reported 
to  him  as  being  cheerful  and  happy.  This  letter, 
with  events  soon  to  follow,  clearly  enough  shows 
that  Lincoln  had  not  lost  his  affection  for  Miss 


Springfield  Life  of  Mrs.  Lincoln  169 

Todd,  and  that  her  happiness  was  still  a  chief 
concern  in  his  life. 

It  was  not  long  until  they  met  by  a  purposeful 
"accident,"  arranged  by  Mrs.  Simeon  Francis, 
a  veritable  adept  in  reconciling  differences,  and, 
as  I  can  personally  vouch,  the  most  social  of  all 
the  society-loving  merry  dames  of  Springfield 
at  that  time.  She  was  a  close  friend  of  all  the 
best  society  people,  and  was  inferior  to  none  as  a 
leader  in  all  the  good  things  among  Springfield's 
social  affairs.  She  held  to  a  very  strict  observance 
of  all  the  courtesies  and  obligations  due  in  social 
life.  Had  Lincoln  been  guilty  of  failing  to  keep 
his  wedding  date,  she  would  never  have  recognized 
him  again,  much  less  invited  him  to  meet  Miss 
Todd  socially  in  her  home,  and  afterwards  made 
her  home  their  trysting-place  until  the  marriage 
was  arranged.  Results  justify  our  saying  that 
even  this  first  meeting  was  mutually  enjoyed, 
since  it  led  to  another  date  at  the  Francis  home, 
and  so  on  there,  frequently,  until  the  wedding. 

Miss  Todd,  influenced,  no  doubt,  by  the  mature 
social  wisdom  of  Mrs.  Francis,  this  time  deter 
mined  that  the  event  should  not  be  deferred, 
lest  it  come  to  the  attention  of  several  of  her 
captious  and  opposing  relatives,  who  might  again 
interpose  objections  leading  to  delay  and  possibly 


170  Abraham  Lincoln 

to  another  breach  of  the  engagement  and  a  new 
series  of  misunderstandings. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  the  two  parties 
here  most  interested  were  not  children.  Miss 
Todd  had  met  Lincoln  three  years  before.  She 
had  known  him  two  years  intimately,  and  one 
year  more  as  her  accepted  fiance.  She  was 
twenty-four  years  old  and  was  unusually  well 
endowed  by  nature,  by  education,  and  by  experi 
ence  to  select  with  wisdom  and  discretion  a 
husband  from  her  admirers,  all  of  whom  had  been 
gentlemen  of  the  best  social  standing.  She  had 
arrived  at  the  full  maturity  of  womanhood  when 
she  accepted  Lincoln's  proposal  of  marriage,  and 
she  did  so  in  the  face  of  opposing  relatives,  preferring 
him  before  all  others  of  her  many  suitors  she  had 
been  acquainted  with  among  whom  were  some 
very  prominent  gentlemen  who  had  sought  her 
hand  in  marriage.  To  say,  as  some  biographers 
have  said,  that  Mary  Todd  accepted  Lincoln  and 
"married  him  in  a  spirit  of  pique  and  petty  spite 
to  wreak  vengeance  on  him  through  wedded  life," 
is  beyond  reasonable  conjecture.  It  is  absolutely 
inconsistent  with  all  womanliness,  and  it  will  not 
stand  up  under  any  light  you  can  place  it  in  against 
a  lady  of  Miss  Todd's  culture  and  character. 


Springfield  Life  of  Mrs.  Lincoln  171 

The  statement  does  violence  to  our  exalted  ideal 
of  womanhood,  and  discredits  the  historian  who 
made  it,  and,  unfortunately,  impairs  confidence 
in  much  else  he  has  written  so  clearly  and  accu 
rately  concerning  Lincoln's  personality  and  char 
acteristics. 

As  has  been  said,  Lincoln  was  ten  years  her 
senior.  He  had  passed  the  "susceptible  age" 
when  marriages  are  contracted  on  impulse,  and 
repentance  comes  afterwards  with  plenty  of  time 
for  meditation.  He  had  had  other  and  unusual 
experiences  qualifying  him  for  contemplating  the 
seriousness  of  marriage.  For  two  years  at  least 
he  had  studied  Miss  Todd  with  that  serious 
thoughtfulness  with  which  any  mature  and 
balanced  man,  such  as  he  was,  studies  the  woman 
whom  he  thinks  of  asking  to  become  his  wife. 
The  statement  that  Lincoln  deliberately  gave 
himself  up  to  this  lady  as  a  "willing  sacrifice," 
and  with  no  love  for  her,  is  only  a  little  less  im 
probable  than  the  one  of  pique  charged  as  the 
motive  of  Miss  Todd. 

I  saw  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lincoln  in  many  and  widely 
differing  situations  during  their  married  life  at 
their  home;  saw  them  leaving  home;  saw  them 


172  Abraham  Lincoln 

separating  for  more  or  less  lengtn  of  absence  for 
business  or  pleasure;  saw  them  again  when  call 
ing  at  the  law  office,  during  busy  hours,  in  hurried 
consultation  between  each  other  on  family,  social, 
or  business  affairs;  saw  them  in  their  carriage 
together,  driving  out  on  our  city  streets  and 
country  roads;  saw  them  at  parties;  saw  them 
regularly  attending  church  together  every  Sunday, 
when  both  were  at  home;  I  saw  them  often  in 
crowded  assemblies  of  all  sorts  and  conditions  of 
public  affairs;  often  again  in  both  pleasant  and 
trying  circumstances  with  their  children;  with 
their  friends,  their  political  foes,  and  later  with 
huzzahing  party  admirers  filling  their  modest 
home  and  sometimes  overflowing  the  streets  around 
their  residence  on  Eighth  Street  with  embarrassing 
familiarity.  In  none  of  these  situations  did  I 
ever  detect  in  Mrs.  Lincoln  aught  but  the  most 
wifely  and  matronly  proprieties  and  respect  toward 
her  husband,  her  family,  and  her  friends.  She 
adapted  herself  cheerfully  to  all  those  exacting 
functions  at  their  home  required  of  Lincoln  in 
his  public  life. 

Lincoln  had  Chatterton  engrave  on  the  wedding 
ring,  which  he  placed  on  Mary  Todd's  finger  the 
evening  of  their  marriage, — "Love  is  Eternal." 


Springfield  Life  of  Mrs.  Lincoln  173 

I  did  not  know,  in  the  years  I  saw  that  ring  on 
Mrs.  Lincoln's  hand,  the  marriage  legend  it  bore 
so  securely  within  its  circle.  But  now  as  I  write 
these  lines,  the  memory  of  the  years  during  which 
I  knew  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lincoln's  wedded  life  brings 
with  it  no  shadows  that  darken  or  doubts  to 
discredit  the  sacred  pledge  which  Lincoln  then 
gave  his  bride  and  which  she  accepted  with 
fullest  maidenly  confidence.  He  was  a  sincere 
man ;  she  was  a  loving  and  loyal  wife. 

There  were  moods  of  inner  solitude  into  which 
Lincoln  sometimes  lapsed,  when  his  silences  were 
mysteries  to  all  his  friends.  I  have  referred  fully 
to  this  mood  elsewhere,  as  one  of  his  personal 
peculiarities.  None  should  be  so  rash  and  unjust 
as  to  interpret  them  as  shadows  cast  by  Mrs. 
Lincoln  over  his  married  life.  That  would  be  false 
and  more  than  cruel.  They  were  characteristic 
of  him  long  before  he  met  her;  they  remained 
inseparable  from  his  remarkable  personality  all 
his  life.  Mrs.  Lincoln,  on  the  contrary,  so  far 
from  being  a  cause  of  this  mood,  was  his  greatest 
solace  in  those  inner  solitudes.  Her  sprightliness 
of  spirit,  her  keenness  of  wit,  the  brightness  of 
her  versatile  mind,  lit  up  many  times, — as  I 
personally  know, — the  gloom  and  self-centred 


174  Abraham  Lincoln 

moodiness  of  his  spells  of  melancholy  that,  as 
Herndon  aptly  said,  "at  times  dripped  from 
him."  She,  of  all  who  were  near  him,  was  the  only 
one  who  had  the  skill  and  tact  to  shorten  their 
duration;  the  only  one  privileged  to  attempt  it. 
I  revere  her  memory  for  this  most  gracious  service, 
as  much  as  for  others  that  speak  more  loudly. 

She  was  the  animating  cause,  I  am  glad  to  say, 
of  Lincoln's  absence  on  tours  out  in  the  Eighth 
District  to  extend  his  law  practice  and  help  swell 
their  slim  finances,  as  well  as  to  promote  his 
political  influence  by  more  extensive  acquaint 
ance.  But  his  going  on  those  long  trips  was  not 
to  escape  his  home,  as  some  historians  have 
intimated.  That  was  a  cruel,  bitter,  false  charge. 
His  wife  was  at  home  attending  to  its  every  interest 
and  discharging  willingly,  faithfully,  gladly,  every 
duty  that  Lincoln's  absence  added  to  her  usual 
cares.  The  stories  about  the  crackers  and  cheese 
luncheon  at  the  law  office;  about  the  long  moody 
walks  when  Lincoln  was  at  home,  and  so  many 
other  of  the  petty  matters  of  gossip  that  have 
lodged  in  what  purports  to  be  history — all  these 
could  be  taken  up,  one  by  one,  and  shown  to  be 
independent  of  any  and  all  relation  to  Mrs. 
Lincoln.  For  example,  the  sound  of  Lincoln's 
axe  heard  from  his  wood-shed  at  one  o'clock  at 


Springfield  Life  of  Mrs.  Lincoln  175 

night,  was  interpreted  by  a  gossiping  neighbour 
and  put  into  more  than  one  history,  as  evidence 
that  he  stole  back  home  at  that  late  hour  and  was 
"  preparing  to  get  his  lonely  supper/'  The  fact 
was,  that  Lincoln  often  remained  at  his  office 
into  the  small  hours  engaged  in  legal  or  political 
work  when  he  could  be  free  of  all  callers;  that  he 
always  retained  and  enjoyed  his  Salem-grocer 
munching  habit  and  provided  frugal  lunches  of 
cheese  and  crackers  then  and  at  various  other 
times  in  his  office;  and  that  on  his  return  home 
in  the  evening,  early  or  late,  it  was  his  custom  to 
go  by  his  wood-shed  and  split  the  kindling  with 
which  to  build  the  morning  fire. 

Mrs.  Lincoln  had  forebodings  about  her  hus 
band's  health.  This  was  the  cause  of  her  watchful 
interest  with  all  details  about  his  clothing  and 
diet.  She  had  been  advised  by  her  brother-in- 
law,  Dr.  Wallace,  that  Lincoln  had  tendencies  to 
ailments  that  without  prudent  attention  to  his 
nutrition  might  be  serious.  This  opinion  was 
confirmed  by  other  physicians  she  had  consulted, 
without  her  husband's  knowledge.  Several  of 
Lincoln's  friends — Herndon,  John  T.  Stuart,  B.  F. 
Edwards,  and  his  two  brothers-in-law  Dr.  Wallace 
and  C.  M.  Smith  among  them — I  recall  as  speak 
ing  of  Lincoln's  inherited  tendency  to  consumption. 


176  Abraham  Lincoln 

None  of  these  opinions  were  ever  mentioned  to 
Lincoln.  It  was  remarked  between  friends  who 
had  these  forebodings,  that  Lincoln's  best  physi 
cal  safety  was  in  his  not  being  aware  he  had 
any  liability  to  consumption.  This  view  was 
probably  the  correct  one  to  be  taken  for  his  good, 
at  any  rate  it  was  the  opinion  and  motive  they 
acted  upon. 

Connected  with  Mrs.  Lincoln's  attention  to 
her  husband's  clothing,  she  was  always  most 
concerned  about  the  regularity  with  which  he 
partook  of  his  meals  and  the  quality  of  his  food. 
Without  her  supervision  he  would  have  given 
little  or  no  attention  to  any  of  these  matters. 
He  was  prone  to  indulge  in  "browsing  around," 
as  he  called  his  irregular  habit  of  partaking  of  any 
food  that  was  handy,  at  any  hour  and  any  place. 
If  left  to  himself,  when  he  was  very  busy,  he  would 
skip  several  meals  and  not  be  aware  of  it.  This 
did  not  suit  Mrs.  Lincoln's  ideas  of  the  well- 
ordered  life  she  wished  him  to  have,  and  she  in 
sisted  that  he  should  be  punctual  at  the  appointed 
time  for  all  meals,  and  partake  leisurely  of  a 
bountiful  and  varied  amount  of  food. 

This  watchful  interest  in  her  husband's  welfare 
and  care  for  his  health  was  one  of  common  know 
ledge  among  those  near  Lincoln,  or  intimate  with 


Springfield  Life  of  Mrs.  Lincoln  177 

their  well-ordered  home  in  Springfield.  It  was 
more  difficult  for  her  to  enforce  this  regularity 
with  the  President,  amid  the  stress  of  his  official 
life,  than  when  at  Springfield.  Washington 
officialdom,  and  the  political  crowd  that  thronged 
the  White  House,  resented  this  and  misinterpreted 
the  wife's  interference  with  what  they  considered 
their  exclusive  claims  on  him  at  any  and  all 
times.  But  Mrs.  Lincoln  in  those  strenuous  years 
relaxed  none  of  her  insistence  that  Lincoln  be 
punctual  to  respond  to  the  call  from  the  dining- 
room.  No  matter  how  closely  he  might  be 
engaged  with  official  business,  or  persistent  poli 
ticians  applying  for  office,  or  discussing  party 
matters  in  their  localities,  she  could  tolerate  no 
delay  without  manifesting  her  displeasure  and  if 
possible  enforcing  her  calls  for  him  at  meal-times. 
I  will  illustrate  this  care  of  Mrs.  Lincoln's  by 
relating  an  extreme  incident  that  occurred  at  the 
Executive  Mansion  in  the  latter  part  of  Lincoln's 
first  term.  One  of  the  chief  assistants  in  the 
Treasury  Department  had  come  to  see  Lincoln 
on  a  matter  of  such  serious  importance  that  it 
must  be  acted  on  immediately.  So  important 
was  the  subject  that  the  department's  head  having 
the  matter  to  decide  did  not  feel  at  liberty  to  do  so 
without  consulting  the  President,  and  the  papers 


178  Abraham  Lincoln 

connected  with  it  were  brought  by  his  assistant 
for  Lincoln's  examination  and  final  direction. 
While  both  were  closely  engaged  over  the  docu 
ments  in  the  President's  private  office,  the  butler 
appeared  at  the  door  and  announced  that  dinner 
was  served.  Lincoln  paid  no  attention  to  this, 
and  the  conference  continued  as  before.  In  a 
short  time  Lincoln's  younger  son  came  with  a 
message  from  his  mother  that  all  were  at  the 
table  awaiting  Lincoln's  joining  them.  Still  the 
President  continued  the  examination  as  before. 
The  little  fellow  became  very  insistent  by  pulling 
and  tugging  at  his  father's  coat  and  hand  to  pull 
him  away  with  him.  His  father  firmly  disengaged 
himself  and  dismissed  the  boy  both  by  his  manner 
indirectly,  as  did  his  words,  saying,  "Yes,  yes; 
directly."  The  little  fellow  at  last  withdrew 
reluctantly,  and  returned  slowly  to  the  dining- 
room.  A  few  minutes  later  Mrs.  Lincoln  appeared 
at  the  office  door  and  in  her  emphatic  tones  of 
command,  so  characteristic  of  her  when  she  was 
displeased,  informed  Lincoln  of  the  repeated  calls 
he  had  had  and  that  they  were  awaiting  his 
presence  at  the  dinner  table.  At  this,  Lincoln, 
without  the  slightest  show  of  displeasure,  laid 
aside  the  documents  his  attention  had  been  en 
grossed  with  and  quietly  arose  and  passed  across 


Springfield  Life  of  Mrs.  Lincoln  179 

the  room  to  Mrs.  Lincoln  who  had  paused  after 
advancing  several  paces  into  the  room.  As 
Lincoln  approached  her  she  partly  turned  as  if 
intending  to  leave  the  room  with  her  husband. 
On  reaching  her  side  Lincoln  took  hold  of  both 
Mrs.  Lincoln's  arms  just  above  the  elbows  and 
slowly  moved  forward,  gently  pushing  her  before 
him,  until  she  was  through  the  door.  He  there 
released  her  arms  and  stepping  back,  closed  the 
door  between  them  and,  locking  it,  quietly  returned 
to  his  seat  at  the  table  without  a  word  of  reference 
to  the  incident,  or  the  slightest  indication  of  being 
ruffled  by  the  interruption  and  its  decisive  con 
clusion.  He  then  went  on  with  the  business  as 
if  no  pause  had  been  made.  The  episode  was 
ended. 

Mrs.  Lincoln's  motive  behind  this  scene  was  a 
proper  one  and,  in  the  busy  later  years  of  Lincoln 
at  Springfield,  as  well  as  through  his  official  ones 
at  Washington,  it  was  often  the  case  that  only  by 
some  such  persistent  insistence  that  Mrs.  Lincoln 
could  secure  the  President's  conforming  to  habits 
that  would  safeguard  his  health.  Mrs.  Lincoln's 
watchful  care  about  her  husband's  personal 
welfare  was  no  small  part  in  contributing  to  the 
maintenance  of  his  strength  and  promoting  his 


i8o  Abraham  Lincoln 

efficiency  through  the  exacting  labours  he  was 
required  to  pass. 

In  all  these  affairs,  as  well  as  in  so  many  others 
that  have  been  distorted  and  misinterpreted,  they 
understood  each  other's  peculiarities  and  motives 
quite  well,  and  the  limits  to  which  their  insistence 
for  conformity  to  each  other's  wishes  could  be 
successfully  carried.  This  understanding  was 
one  of  mutual  and  respectful  recognition  between 
them.  Usually,  in  all  domestic  matters,  Lincoln 
yielded  his  own  preferences  to  those  of  his  wife; 
but  there  were  times,  as  in  the  incident  related, 
when  he  acted  adversely  to  Mrs.  Lincoln's  wishes, 
and  then  he  had  a  peculiarly  balanced  manner  of 
deciding  and  disposing  of  the  situation  in  the 
way  he  considered  to  be  necessary.  He  usually 
did  so,  as  in  this  affair,  by  actions,  not  by  words. 
At  these  times  Mrs.  Lincoln  recognized  that  she 
had  reached  her  limits  of  influence,  and  with  rare 
exceptions  she  graciously  accepted  and  conformed 
by  silence  to  Lincoln's  stronger  will,  as  she  did 
on  this  occasion. 

I  beg  pardon  of  my  reader  for  trailing  my  pen 
through  such  trivial  scandals.  I  have  done  it  in 
the  briefest  possible  way  and  will  inflict  you  with 
no  other.  This  brief  mention  is  made  to  show 


Springfield  Life  of  Mrs.  Lincoln  181 

the  injustice  and  cruelty  of  much  of  the  false 
insinuations  against  Mrs.  Lincoln  that  have  found 
their  way  into  history.  The  few  I  have  men 
tioned  show  how  distorted  many  simple  acts  and 
incidents  may  be  made  to  appear  when  taken 
apart  from  their  relation  to  other  facts  with  which 
they  were  connected. 

Without  Mary  Todd  for  his  wife,  Abraham 
Lincoln  would  never  have  been  President.  With 
out  Abraham  Lincoln  for  her  husband,  Mary 
Todd  would,  probably,  never  have  been  a  Presi 
dent's  wife.  From  the  day  of  their  marriage  they 
supplemented  each  other  in  many  unusual  times 
and  ways  through  those  remarkable  years.  Out 
of  many  instances  in  which  she  shaped  his 
course  in  public  affairs,  I  will  cite  two  which  were 
perhaps  of  chief  importance  in  their  far-reaching 
results. 

President  Fillmore  offered  Lincoln  the  governor 
ship  of  Oregon.  John  T.  Stuart  and  other  influen 
tial  friends  insisted  that  he  take  it,  saying  that 
Oregon  would  soon  be  a  State,  and  he  one  of 
the  Senators.  Lincoln  was  inclined  to  accept  the 
offer,  but  qualified  assent  by  saying  "if  my  wife 
approves  the  plan."  Mrs.  Lincoln,  with  that 
quick,  instinctive,  deciding  wisdom  which  she 


182  Abraham  Lincoln 

usually  showed  in  practical  affairs  as  well  as  in 
politics,  "refused  her  consent,"  Lincoln  reported, 
and  the  matter  was  dropped. 

Again  in  1855  she  showed  her  ability  as  a 
political  forecaster  of  events.  During  Lincoln's 
absence  from  Springfield  his  friends  took  the 
liberty  to  announce  his  name  together  with 
Judge  Logan's,  in  the  State  Journal,  as  a  candidate 
for  election  to  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the 
Illinois  Legislature.  The  morning  she  saw  the 
notice  in  the  Journal,  Mrs.  Lincoln  drove  down  to 
the  office,  went  upstairs  to  the  editor,  Simeon 
Francis,  and  ordered  Lincoln's  name  out  of  the 
list  of  candidates.  The  name  was  taken  out.  In 
a  day  or  two  it  was  inserted  once  more.  Again 
she  drove  down  to  the  Journal  office  and  not  only 
ordered  Lincoln's  name  withdrawn,  but  secured  a 
promise  from  Editor  Francis  that  it  should  be  left 
out  until  Lincoln's  return  home.  On  Lincoln's 
return,  Dr.  William  Jayne,  who  it  seemed  was  re 
sponsible  for  putting  both  Logan's  and  Lincoln's 
announcements  in  the  Journal,  went  to  see  him. 
Jayne  reports:  "I  went  to  see  him  in  order  to  get 
his  consent  to  run.  This  was  at  his  own  house.  He 
was  the  saddest  man  I  ever  saw,  the  gloomiest. 
He  walked  up  and  down  the  floor  almost  crying. 
To  all  persuasion  to  let  his  name  stand  in  the 


Springfield  Life  of  Mrs.  Lincoln  183 

paper,  he  said:     'No,  I  can't.     You  don't  know 
one  half  and  that's  enough."1 

Jayne,  or  some  other  party,  did  go,  however,  in 
Lincoln's  absence,  and  again  had  his  name  rein 
stated  in  the  Journal  a  few  days  before  the  elec 
tion.  Both  Logan  and  Lincoln  were  elected  by 
about  six  hundred  majority.  But,  after  all, 
Mrs.  Lincoln's  forecast  of  the  state  election  was 
right,  and  Lincoln's,  Jayne's,  and  their  friends' 
wrong.  The  state  had  elected  an  anti-Nebraska 
Legislature,  as  Mrs.  Lincoln  had  felt  positive  it 
would.  Lincoln  became  a  candidate,  as  Mrs. 
Lincoln  had  planned,  for  United  States  Senator  to 
succeed  Shields.  He  and  his  friends  then  thought 
it  a  necessary  preliminary  for  him  to  resign  his 
seat  in  the  Legislature.  This  he  did,  and  in  his 
stead,  at  a  called  election,  there  was  elected  a 
Nebraska-Democrat.  This  would  not  have  been 
the  case  if  Lincoln  had  been  kept  out  of  the  can 
didacy  in  the  first  place,  leaving  the  field  open 
for  some  other  anti-Nebraska  Republican  candi 
date  with  Judge  Logan's  popularity  and  influence 
to  pull  both  through.  This  caused  considerable 
criticism  among  Lincoln's  friends  at  home  and  in 
the  Legislature,  and  was  one  of  the  minor  causes 
of  Lyman  Trumbuirs  election  to  the  United 
States  Senate  instead  of  Lincoln,  by  uniting  on  the 


184  Abraham  Lincoln 

former  the  votes  of  the  anti-Nebraska  Democrats 
in  the  Legislature. 

Mrs.  Lincoln  in  her  attention  to  political  move 
ments  did  not  in  any  degree  neglect  her  house 
hold  or  her  domestic  and  social  duties.  At  the 
same  time  she  did  not  allow  them  to  monopolize 
her  life,  or  obscure  the  hope  she  ever  kept  in  view, 
inspired  by  her  girlhood  dream  that  she  "was  to 
be  a  President's  wife."  None  other  ever  had 
such  faith  in  Lincoln  as  her's.  He  had  less  faith 
and  hope  in  himself  than  she.  This  vision  of  the 
Presidency  was  no  fancy  or  joke  with  Mrs.  Lincoln, 
as  some  supposed.  No  denial  was  too  severe,  or 
service  too  hazardous,  if  it  promised  the  goal  she 
had  in  view  for  Lincoln.  She  was  more  aggres 
sively  ambitious  than  her  husband.  She  stead 
fastly  inspired  and  kept  him  aiming  higher. 
Until  1858  he  needed  influences  outside  himself 
to  push  him  to  the  political  front  and  hold  him 
there.  She  gave  him  this  unstintingly.  Some 
misunderstood,  regarding  her  officious  in  this, 
and  said  cruel,  harsh  things  about  her  for  it. 
This  annoyed  her  greatly,  and  her  replies  were 
equally  stinging,  creating  life-long  enemies. 

Through  that  strenuous  campaign  of  Lincoln 
and  Douglas  for  the  United  States  Senate,  she 


Springfield  Life  of  Mrs.  Lincoln  185 

had  an  important  part.  In  the  privacy  of  their 
home  she  insisted  on  his  going  out,  and  staying 
out,  with  Douglas  to  the  end  of  that  celebrated 
debate.  With  the  children  and  household  affairs 
and  Lincoln's  personal  wants  to  be  provided  for, 
she  was  the  managing  partner  who  kept  the 
expense  accounts  within  the  limits  which  their 
moderate  income  placed  at  her  disposal. 

Again,  from  1856  to  1860  she  accomplished  a 
task  in  family  affairs  such  as  the  wife  of  no  politi 
cian  had  ever  accomplished  before  in  a  struggle 
for  the  nation's  highest  office.  Lincoln  himself 
accorded  her  both  before  and  after  the  Douglas 
debates  unstinted  appreciation  for  her  efficiency 
in  all  home  and  financial  affairs,  as  well  as  in 
forecasting  the  progress  of  political  events. 

Only  a  limited  few  knew  the  intense  spirit  of 
her  who  remained  behind  at  the  home  to  inspire 
his  going  forth,  to  welcome  his  return,  to  rejoice 
at  any  good  news,  to  stimulate  him  to  renew  the 
struggle  when  disappointment  had  to  be  met. 
Lincoln  was  despondent  at  times  during  those  high- 
strung  days.  The  stress  and  turmoil  and  tumult 
went  hard  with  him.  Not  so  with  her.  She  had 
a  spirit  that  never  tired  on  the  battle  line.  She 
was  less  pleasant  on  a  retreat,  and  could  stand 
almost  anything  better  than  a  political  dead  calm. 


1 86  Abraham  Lincoln 

Lincoln  could  be  at  entire  ease  on  the  retreat,  or 
in  a  calm,  for  he  then  went  into  one  of  his  moods 
of  meditative  silence  that  was  at  such  times 
exasperatingly  unintelligible  to  her,  and  to  so 
many  of  his  friends.  To  whom  would  this  mood 
not  have  been  a  trial?  Yet  she  always  found  a 
way  of  getting  him  out  of  it  and  back  on  the 
firing  line  again. 

I  will  here  quote  a  few  sentences  from  Emily 
Todd  Helm,  a  younger  sister  of  Mrs.  Lincoln's. 
They  throw  direct  rays  of  light  from  one  who  knew 
their  home  life  into  the  false,  gossipy  fog  that 
has  been  floating  around  the  Lincoln  home  life 
at  Springfield: 

It  has  been  said  that  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lincoln  were 
not  happy.  Mrs.  Wallace  (her  sister)  denies  this 
emphatically,  and  the  present  writer's  knowledge 
bears  out  Mrs.  Wallace's  assertion.  They  under 
stood  each  other  thoroughly,  and  Mr.  Lincoln  looked 
beyond  the  impulsive  words  and  manner,  and  knew 
that  his  wife  was  devoted  to  him  and  to  his  interests. 
They  lived  in  a  quiet  unostentatious  manner. 

She  was  very  fond  of  reading,  and  interested  herself 
greatly  in  her  husband's  political  views  and  aspira 
tions.  She  was  fond  of  home,  and  made  nearly  all 
her  own  clothes.  She  was  a  cheerful  woman,  a 


Springfield  Life  of  Mrs.  Lincoln  187 

delightful  conversationalist,  and  well-informed  on  all 
subjects  of  the  day. 

The  present  writer  saw  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lincoln 
together  some  part  of  every  day  for  six  months  at 
one  time,  but  saw  nothing  of  the  unhappiness  which 
is  so  often  referred  to.  Many  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  ways, 
such  as  going  to  answer  the  door  bell,  annoyed  her, 
and  upon  one  occasion  a  member  of  the  family  said, 
"Mary,  if  I  had  a  husband  with  such  a  mind  as  yours 
has,  I  wouldn't  care  what  he  did."  This  pleased  her 
very  much  and  she  replied:  "It  is  foolish, — it  is  a 
small  thing  to  complain  of." 

Another  event  in  the  life  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lincoln 
at  Springfield  presents  a  scene  that  illustrates 
how  utterly  unbelievable,  how  absolutely  unthink 
able,  is  the  story  of  their  unhappy  married  life. 
It  was  ' '  to  the  little  woman  over  on  Eighth  Street " 
that  he  first  thought  to  communicate  the  news, 
when  he  received  the  telegram  announcing  the 
third  ballot  of  the  Republican  Convention  in 
Chicago.  It  was  about  nine  o'clock  on  the 
morning  of  May  18,  1860,  when  Lincoln  came  into 
his  law  office.  J.  H.  Littlefield,  a  student,  Lewis 
Rosette,  a  lawyer,  the  writer,  and  one  or  two  others 
were  present.  His  first  words  were:  "Well,  boys, 
what  do  you  know?"  Mr.  Littlefield  told  what 
he  had  last  heard.  Lincoln  then  said  that  Dr. 


1 88  Abraham  Lincoln 

Wallace  had  come  down  from  Chicago  that 
morning,  and  had  said  that  he  thought  Seward 
showed  great  strength. 

In  a  few  minutes,  Edward  L.  Baker,  one  of  the 
editors  of  the  Illinois  State  Journal,  came  in  with 
two  telegrams.  The  first  told  of  the  delegates 
coming  into  the  Convention  hall.  The  other 
told  that  the  names  of  the  candidates  for  nomi 
nation  had  been  placed  before  the  Convention, 
and  that  Lincoln's  name  had  received  by  far 
the  greatest  applause.  Baker  then  went  out,  but 
returned  hurriedly  in  a  short  time  with  a  telegram 
showing  the  votes  on  the  first  ballot.  Lincoln 
took  the  dispatch  in  his  hand  and  looked  at  it 
with  no  expression  of  word  or  manner.  His  face 
was  a  blank.  Again  Baker  went  out.  Lincoln 
remained  silent  for  several  minutes,  then  got  up, 
saying:  "The  dispatches  appear  to  be  coming 
to  the  Journal  office,  by  arrangement,  I  presume; 
we  had  better  go  over  there."  On  our  way  to  the 
Journal  office,  as  we  were  passing  the  telegraph 
office,  Lincoln  said:  "Let  us  go  up.  It  is  about 
time  for  the  second  ballot  to  come."  All  but 
Littlefield  and  I  went  upstairs  to  the  telegraph 
office,  while  we  went  on  direct  to  the  Journal 
office.  Baker  and  Bailhache,  the  editors,  and 
a  few  others  were  present  when  we  arrived. 


Springfield  Life  of  Mrs.  Lincoln  189 

A  few  minutes  later  the  second  ballot  came  in, 
showing  a  gain  of  seventy-nine  votes  for  Lincoln 
while  Seward  had  only  gained  eleven  votes.  Just 
then  Lincoln  and  several  others  came  into  the 
editorial  rooms.  The  dispatch  was  handed  to 
him.  No  one  spoke  a  word.  I  can  never  forget 
the  look  that  came  on  his  face  as  he  read  it.  At 
that  moment  he  believed  he  would  be  nominated. 
It  was  only  a  short  time  by  the  watch, — but  it 
seemed  long  to  the  expectant  friends  in  the 
Journal  office, — before  the  third  ballot  was  handed 
in,  and  it  was  shouted:  ' 'Lincoln's  nominated," 
and  there  followed  a  call  for  three  rousing  cheers. 
But  the  desire  to  hear  the  vote  as  reported  in  the 
dispatch  cut  them  short.  "Read  the  dispatch," 
was  the  call.  It  was  read  aloud  and  handed  to 
Lincoln  who,  after  glancing  at  it,  said,  "I  felt 
sure  this  would  come  when  I  saw  the  second  ballot. ' ' 
There  was  a  hearty  hand-shake  of  congratulations 
all  round,  followed  by  three  rousing  and  pro 
longed  cheers.  No  one  but  the  nominee  was  able 
to  control  the  joy  the  nomination  had  brought. 
He  sat  erect,  rigid,  and  his  face  wore  the  firm- 
set  stern  lines  I  had  seen  in  it  when  he  spoke  at 
Petersburg  in  1856. 

A  merchant  from  Boston,  Mass.,  who  happened 
to  be  present  and  standing  by  Lincoln,  suggested 


190  Abraham  Lincoln 

Q| 

that  Lincoln's  life  be  written  at  once, — a  remark  so 
characteristically  Bostonese  that  Littlefield  and 
I,  in  our  boyishness,  exchanged  glances  that  came 
near  convulsing  us,  had  it  not  been  for  the  serious 
look  with  which  Lincoln  turned  to  the  merchant, 
as  he  gravely  said:  ''My  friend,  I  do  not  see 
much  in  my  life  as  yet  to  write  about." 

After  a  little  further  talk  Lincoln  made  his  way 
slowly  through  the  company  and  down  the  stairs. 
He  paused  for  a  moment  as  he  reached  the  side 
walk  fronting  Sixth  Street.  He  still  looked  very 
serious,  but  in  a  brief  moment  remarked,  rather 
gravely,  yet  with  the  peculiar  mellow  emphasis 
he  had  when  speaking  with  great  sincerity: 
"  There  is  a  lady  over  yonder  on  Eighth  Street 
who  is  deeply  interested  in  this  news;  I  will  carry 
it  to  her";  and  he  walked  rapidly  south  on  South 
Sixth  Street,  across  Washington  Street,  and  as  he 
came  in  front  of  the  old  Marine  Bank  building, 
which  then  stood  well  back  from  the  street  walk, 
Robert  Irwin,  the  cashier,  seeing  Lincoln  passing 
by,  and  having  heard  about  the  third  ballot, 
came  out  to  the  sidewalk  to  congratulate  him. 
He  was  a  heavy,  short,  lion-faced  man — and 
Lincoln  so  tall.  They  clasped  hands  in  silence 
only  a  moment.  Their  friendship  had  been  of 


Springfield  Life  of  Mrs.  Lincoln  191 

long  standing.  Their  manner  expressed  more  than 
words.  Leaving  him,  Lincoln  started  on  again  at 
a  rapid  pace,  but  was  stopped  before  he  reached 
the  middle  of  the  block  by  the  messenger  from  the 
telegraph  office,  who  handed  him  a  message  for 
which  he  receipted  and,  opening  the  envelope, 
read  it,  then  hurried  on  with  rapid  strides,  holding 
the  message  in  that  large  right  hand  as  he  hastened 
to  her  who  had  in  vision  expected  that  news  for 
him  through  all  their  wedded  life.  No  one  saw 
their  meeting.  His  thoughts  were  first  of  her 
to  whom  he  gave  the  pledge:  "Love  is  eternal." 
Most  biographers  state  that  this  dispatch  handed 
to  him  on  the  street  was  his  first  notification  of 
his  nomination;  but  the  telegram  announcing  his 
nomination  on  the  third  ballot  had  been  in  his 
hands  twenty-five  minutes,  and  he  had  been  con 
gratulated  by  a  number  of  people  before  this 
last  telegram  was  delivered.  This  was  due  to  the 
fact  that  there  was  direct  communication  between 
the  Convention  hall  and  some  newspapers.  A 
private  dispatch  from  the  superintendent  of  the 
telegraph  company  was  sent,  after  all  changes 
in  the  ballots  had  been  made,  and  this  was  the 
telegram  which  was  actually  handed  to  Lincoln 
on  the  street,  and  which  he  carried  home  to  Mrs. 
Lincoln. 


192  Abraham  Lincoln 

No  wife  of  a  presidential  nominee  ever  received 
news  of  her  husband's  nomination  with  greater 
joy  than  did  Mrs.  Lincoln.  It  was  the  most  grati 
fying  moment  of  her  life.  To  Lincoln  it  was  one 
of  the  gravest  days  he  ever  had  passed  through. 
It  was  only  the  exuberance  of  his  fellow-townsmen, 
and  their  constant  thronging  around  him  with 
congratulations,  that  kept  him  out  of  a  mood  of 
meditative  silence  into  which  he  would  have  lapsed. 
No  citizen  of  Springfield,  probably  no  citizen  of 
the  nation,  knew  better  than  Abraham  Lincoln 
did  that  day  what  were  the  tasks  and  problems 
before  him.  For  years  he  had  been  making  the 
political  situation  of  the  country  a  careful  study. 
Mrs.  Lincoln  was  oppressed  by  no  such  weight 
of  forebodings.  She  was  radiant  with  joy,  and 
faced  the  future  without  the  shadow  of  a  fear  to 
darken  that  one  most  perfect  and  brightest  day 
of  her  life.  She,  in  common  with  most  other 
Springfieldians,  never  closed  her  eyes  for  sleep 
that  night.  The  shouting  and  blazing  of  bonfires 
made  the  whole  night  luminous  and  hideous. 
Thousands  of  "Wide  Awakes,"  clad  in  capes 
and  bearing  torches,  marched  the  streets  most  of 
the  night  singing  campaign  songs.  None  of  us 
then  had  the  slightest  doubt  but  that  Lincoln's 
nomination  was  tantamount  to  his  election; 


Springfield  Life  of  Mrs.  Lincoln  193 

neither  did  we  realize  the  national  tragedy  fore 
shadowed  by  the  event  which  we  were  celebrating. 

Thrills  of  excitement  from  that  i8th  of  May, 
1860,  throb  in  my  every  nerve  as  my  pen  writes 
about  its  full  and  exultant  minutes.  The  fires 
then  kindled  on  Springfield's  streets  have  not 
been  extinguished  or  even  chilled  in  my  memory, 
though  they  are  viewed  across  half  a  century's 
winters  since  then,  whose  frosts  have  whitened 
all  my  hairs.  There  was  not  a  full  tar  barrel, 
nor  an  empty  one,  nor  a  loose  box  left  in  Spring 
field  the  next  morning,  and  few  old  fences  or  loose 
gates. 

Next  morning's  train  brought  home  from  the 
Convention  the  Springfield  delegates  and  citizens 
—hoarse,  dusty,  exhausted,  but  hilariously  joyful. 
Some  of  the  home-staying  celebrants,  after  a 
sleepless  night,  in  the  "cold  grey  dawn  of  the 
morning  after, "  had  begun  to  feel  as  though  they 
had  been  prematurely  jubilant.  Lincoln  expressed 
it  next  morning  to  some  of  them,  saying:  "We 
are  not  out  of  the  woods  yet.  Be  careful  you  don't 
trip  up  on  it."  We  were  in  the  fray,  but  the 
greatest  presidential  campaign  ever  known  in 

our  history  had  opened,  and  its  mysterious  out- 
is 


194  Abraham  Lincoln 

come  no  human  vision  could  or  then  even  tried  to 
penetrate. 

But  our  enthusiasm  was  justified  beyond  all 
criticism,  we  thought,  when  we  heard  how  wildly 
jubilant  the  staid,  cool-blooded  Judge  Stephen 
T.  Logan  had  been  in  Chicago.  He  had  gone 
there  to  head  the  Illinois  delegation,  clad  in  the 
finest  new  suit  he  had  ever  worn,  and  his  head 
crowned  with  a  tall  new  shining  silk  hat,  the  best 
that  our  Springfield  "Adams,  Hatter"  had  ever 
made.  He  came  back  with  his  suit  a  sight  to 
behold,  dusty  and  wrinkled  beyond  all  recognition, 
for  he  had  not  been  out  of  it  since  he  had  left 
Springfield.  He  came  back  wearing  a  little 
Scotch  cap,  the  glossy  tall  silk  hat  having  been  left 
somewhere  in  the  debris  of  the  Wigwam,  near 
Lake  Michigan,  after  Logan  had  beaten  it  into 
shapeless  ruin  over  the  heads  and  shoulders  of 
his  fellow-delegates  upon  announcement  of  the 
third  ballot.  No  one  would  credit  this  report  at 
first,  but  everybody  who  had  been  there  said  it 
was  true — except  the  Judge.  And  he  was  silent! 

How  we  boys  loved  the  grim  Judge  for  his 
firmness,  grit,  and  nerves  of  steel  before  he  went 
up  to  the  Chicago  Convention  in  May,  1860. 
Ever  after  that  event  we  worshipped  him  for  the 
big-souled  loyalty  and  love  he  had  shown  for 


Springfield  Life  of  Mrs.  Lincoln  195 

Lincoln  at  Chicago,  which  burned  and  throbbed 
in  his  veins  with  every  heart-beat  of  this  truest 
and  noblest  Roman  of  all  the  old  Tenth  Legion 
that  was  there.  He  took  both  my  father's  hands 
in  his  own  when  they  met  on  his  return,  and,  in  a 
whisper, — for  he  had  shouted  away  all  the  voice 
he  had  in  Chicago, — said:  "Rankin,  I'm  even 
with  Lincoln  now.  He  made  me  drop  him  and 
vote  for  Trumbull  for  United  States  Senator  in 
1856,  to  keep  Matteson  out.  I  cried  then  like  a 
baby  with  vexation  and  wrath.  Now  I've  had  my 
revenge.  He  will  be  President";  and  the  two 
grey  Kentuckians, — old  Whig  veterans  of  the 
Henry  Clay  campaigns, — clasped  each  other, 
crying  for  joy  like  children.  I  did  not  understand 
it  then.  I  do  now,  for  I  am  seventy-nine. 

I  now  give  a  few  extracts  from  letters  Mrs. 
Lincoln  wrote  to  Emily  Todd  Helm,  giving  the 
dates.  The  letters  show  Mrs.  Lincoln  in  her 
active  years;  and  Mrs.  Helm's  words  are  more 
revealing  of  Mrs.  Lincoln's  life  in  her  last  days 
than  anything  I  should  be  able  to  say: 

SPRINGFIELD,  Febry.  3,  1856. 

Mr.  Lincoln  has  just  entered  and  announced  that 
a  Speaker  has  been  elected  at  Washington,  that  Mr. 
Banks  is  the  happy  man.  They  have  had  great 
trouble  in  the  political  world. 


196  Abraham  Lincoln 

SPRINGFIELD,*  November  23,  1856. 

Your  husband,  like  some  of  the  rest  of  ours,  has  a 
great  taste  for  politics  and  has  taken  much  interest 
in  the  late  contest  which  has  resulted  very  much 
as  I  expected,  not  hoped. 

Although  Mr.  Lincoln  is,  or  was,  a  Fremont  man, 
you  must  not  include  him  with  so  many  of  those  who 
belong  to  that  party, — an  abolitionist.  In  principle 
he  is  far  from  it.  All  he  desires  is  that  slavery  shall 
not  be  extended, —  Let  it  remain  where  it  is.  ... 
The  Democrats  have  been  defeated  in  our  State 
in  their  governor,  so  there  is  a  crumb  of  com 
fort  for  each  and  all.  What  day  is  so  dark  that 
there  is  no  ray  of  sunshine  to  penetrate  the  gloom? 
.  .  .  Now  sit  down,  and  write  one  of  your  agree 
able  missives,  and  do  not  wait  for  a  return  of 
each  from  a  staid  matron,  the  mother  of  three  noisy 
boys. 

SPRINGFIELD,  February  16,   1857. 

Within  the  last  three  weeks  there  has  been  a  party 
almost  every  night,  and  some  two  or  three  grand 
fetes  are  coming  off  this  week.  I  may  surprise  you 
when  I  mention  that  I  am  recovering  from  the  slight 
fatigue  of  a  very  large  and,  I  really  believe,  a  very 
handsome  and  agreeable  entertainment,  at  least 
our  friends  flatter  us  by  saying  so.  About  five 
hundred  were  invited;  yet  owing  to  an  unlucky  rain, 
three  hundred  only  favored  us  by  their  presence. 
And  the  same  evening  in  Jacksonville,  Colonel 


Springfield  Life  of  Mrs.  Lincoln  197 

Warren  gave  a  bridal  party  to  his  son,  which  occasion 
robbed  us  of  some  of  our  friends.  You  will  think  we 
have  enlarged  our  borders  since  you  were  here. 

SPRINGFIELD,  September  20,  1857. 

The  summer  has  strangely  and  rapidly  passed 
away.  Some  portion  of  it  was  spent  most  pleasantly 
in  traveling  East.  We  visited  Niagara,  Canada, 
New  York,  and  other  points  of  interest.  When  I  saw 
the  large  steamers  at  the  New  York  landing,  ready 
for  their  European  voyage,  I  felt  in  my  heart  in 
clined  to  sigh  that  poverty  was  my  portion.  I  often 
laugh  and  tell  Mr.  Lincoln  that  I  am  determined  my 
next  husband  shall  be  rich. 

I  will  add  a  few  paragraphs  written  by  Mrs. 
Helm  about  the  last  sad  and  lonely  years  of  Mrs. 
Lincoln's  life : 

Mrs.  Lincoln  was  devoted  to  her  children,  and 
their  loss  was  a  distracting  grief  to  her.  Willie's 
death  at  Washington  was  a  sorrow  too  deep  for  the 
President  or  Mrs.  Lincoln  to  refer  to.  Mrs.  Lincoln 
regularly  attended  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  it 
was  her  request  to  be  buried  from  the  church  where 
she  had  professed  her  faith.  Her  wedding  ring  had 
engraved  within  it,  "Love  is  eternal."  The  last 
words  President  Lincoln  said  to  his  wife  were,  "There 
is  no  city  I  desire  so  much  to  see  as  Jerusalem." 
With  these  words  half -spoken,  the  fatal  bullet  entered 
his  brain  and  struck  him  down  by  her  side. 


198  Abraham  Lincoln 

What  wonder  that  such  a  shock  was  followed  by 
great  nervous  prostration !  Mrs.  Lincoln  went  abroad 
to  divert  her  mind. 

Mr.  Paul  Shipman,  of  Edgewater  Park,  New  Jersey, 
who  saw  much  of  her  during  her  sojourn  in  London 
and  on  the  Continent,  says:  "Her  residence  was  in 
sight  of  Bedford  Square,  and  her  life  subservient  to 
the  welfare  of  Tad  (her  son)  who  was  pursuing  his 
studies  under  a  tutor.  She  shunned,  rather  than 
courted,  attention,  and  desired  peace  and  retirement 
above  all  things.  I  found  her  sympathetic,  cordial, 
sensible,  with  that  bonhomie  so  fascinating,  with  no 
trace  of  eccentricity  in  conduct  or  manner.  She 
was  simply  a  bright,  wholesome,  attractive  woman; 
and  I  could  not  for  the  life  of  me  recognize  the  Mrs. 
Lincoln  I  saw."  A  letter  written  by  Mrs.  Lincoln 
to  Mrs.  Shipman  says:  "I  hope  we  will  meet  whilst 
we  are  abroad — you  with  your  life  so  filled  with  love 
and  happiness,  whilst  I,  alas,  am  a  weary  exile. 
Without  my  beloved  husband's  presence  the  world  is 
filled  with  gloom  and  dreariness  for  me." 

In  1871  Mrs.  Lincoln's  son  Tad  died  in  Chicago,  at 
the  age  of  eighteen.  "Ah,  my  dear  friend,"  she  said 
to  one  who  knew  her  well,  "you  will  rejoice  when  you 
know  that  I  have  gone  to  my  husband  and  children." 
She  was  done  with  life.  After  years  of  failing  health, 
in  quiet  seclusion  from  the  world,  shrinking  from  all 


Springfield  Life  of  Mrs.  Lincoln  199 

publicity,  and  sensitive  to  every  misrepresentation; 
sustaining  the  dignity  of  widowhood  by  perfectly 
appropriate  behavior,  she  awaited  release  from  her 
sufferings.  She  died  at  the  home  of  her  sister,  Mrs. 
Ninian  W.  Edwards,  July  16,  1882.  Three  days 
later  she  was  laid  to  rest  by  the  side  of  her  illustrious 
husband. 

The  Rev.  John  A.  Reid  of  Springfield  expressed  the 
feeling  of  many  when  he  said:  "The  taller  and  the 
stronger  one  died,  and  the  weaker  is  now  dead. 
Growing  and  struggling  together,  one  could  not  live 
without  the  other.  Years  ago  Abraham  Lincoln 
placed  upon  the  finger  of  Mary  Todd  a  ring  bearing 
the  inscription  "Love  is  eternal."  Side  by  side  they 
walked  until  the  demon  of  tragedy  separated  them. 
When  the  nation  was  shocked  at  the  sad  and  dire 
event,  how  much  more  must  she  have  been  shocked 
who  had  years  before  become  a  part  of  his  life.  It 
cannot  be  any  disrespect  to  her  memory  to  say,  that 
the  bullet  that  sped  its  way  and  took  her  husband 
from  earth  took  her  too 

The  time  will  be  brief  until  the  last  of  those 
who  knew  President  Lincoln  and  Mrs.  Lincoln 
shall  have  passed  away.  In  coming  years,  now 
near,  another  generation  of  citizens  will  often 
stand  before  the  monument  erected  at  Springfield 
over  the  remains  of  Abraham  Lincoln;  or  before 


200  Abraham  Lincoln 

^ 

the  national  memorial  at  Washington  commemor 
ating  President  Lincoln's  illustrious  life  and  ser 
vices.  They  will  be  drawn  to  both  by  their 
reverent  gratitude  for  the  preservation  of  the 
Union  of  the  States  for  which  we  are  so  largely 
indebted  to  him.  His  noble  spirit  and  unfailing 
faithfulness  will  forever  be  an  inspiration  to 
those  who  view  those  monuments  and  recall  the 
purpose  of  their  erection. 

But  there  is  another  whose  life  and  personality 
deserve  the  tribute  of  being  recalled  by  our 
citizens  while  standing  before  those  monuments. 
In  their  silence  these  shafts  are  vocal  of  more 
than  one  life.  I  would  have  my  countrymen  give 
some  moments  while  there  to  thoughts  of  her  who 
lies  beside  him  in  the  one;  and  who  was  associated 
in  personal  devotion  and  services  with  him  in  all 
the  great  achievements  commemorated  by  the 
other.  At  both  these  shrines  erected  by  a  grateful 
nation,  let  us  recall,  as  a  part  to  be  associated  in 
Abraham  Lincoln's  memory,  the  strong  personal 
ity,  unfailing  faith,  and  devotion  of  the  wife  who 
was  so  loyally  with  him,  and  an  inspiration  to  him 
during  all  his  strenuous  years.  Well  did  she  earn 
such  recognition. 

Think  kindly,  gratefully  of  her  who,  at  last, — 


Springfield  Life  of  Mrs.  Lincoln  201 

after  that  fatal  bullet  stilled  in  martyrdom  her 
husband's  generous  heart, — was  left  to  the  loneliest 
life  of  all  the  wives  widowed  by  the  Civil  War. 
Give,  even  though  so  late,  that  justice  which  the 
harassed,  stricken  nation  unwittingly  denied 
Mary  Todd  Lincoln  in  the  busy  generation  through 
which  she  lived.  She  was  allowed  to  go  on  through 
the  last  years  of  her  life,  so  solitary  until  their 
sad  end,  amid  chilling  neglect  and  misrepresenta 
tion.  During  the  bitter  years  following  her 
bereavement  it  was  her  lot  to  suffer  the  daily 
martyrdom  of  her  great  sorrow  under  so  many 
shadows,  until  released  by  death. 

The  Pen  of  History,  in  the  long  lapse  of  years,  is 
a  discriminating,  diamond  pointed  one  that  en 
graves  in  the  crystal  pages  of  Immortal  Truth, 
the  records  of  Undying  Fame, — those  whose 
lives  are  deemed  worthy  of  such  commemoration. 
When  that  time  shall  come, — if  it  be  not  here  now, 
— then,  Mary  Todd  Lincoln's  part  in  the  life  of  her 
illustrious  husband  will  appear  in  its  correct  rela 
tion  to  his  life,  and  she  will  be  awarded  the  recog 
nition  her  merits  have  always  deserved.  Till 
then  she  can  wait;  for,  like  her  husband,  she 
belongs  to  the  ages. 


Abraham  Lincoln  as  Seen  in  Two 
Speeches  Fifty  Years  Ago 


203 


Sprung  from  the  West, 

The  strength  of  virgin  forests  braced  his  mind, 
The  hush  of  spacious  prairies  stilled  his  soul. 
Up  from  the  log  cabin  to  the  Capitol, 
One  fire  was  on  his  spirit,  one  resolve — 
To  send  the  keen  ax  to  the  root  of  wrong, 
Clearing  a  free  way  for  the  feet  of  God. 
And  evermore  he  burned  to  do  his  deed 
With  the  fine  stroke  and  gesture  of  a  king; 
He  built  the  rail  piles  as  he  built  the  State, 
Pouring  his  splendid  strength  through  every  blow, 
The  conscience  of  him  testing  every  stroke, 
To  make  his  deed  the  measure  of  a  man. 

EDWIN  MARKHAM. 


204 


X 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN    AS    SEEN    IN    TWO    SPEECHES 
FIFTY    YEARS    AGO 

Two  speeches  delivered  by  Lincoln,  one  in 
1856  and  the  other  in  1861,  impressed  those  who 
heard  them  most  profoundly  at  the  time.  Five 
years'  space  separated  them.  The  first  was  given 
at  Petersburg,  Menard  County,  in  October,  1856, 
when  the  presidential  election  was  near  at  hand. 
Lincoln's  former  political  associates  there,  the 
Whigs,  who  had  sent  him  to  Congress,  were  now 
stanch  supporters  of  President  Fillmore.  The 
Democrats,  of  course,  supported  Buchanan;  while 
Fremont,  the  standard-bearer  of  the  young  Re 
publican  Party,  had  scarcely  any  following  in  that 
county,  and  polled  only  six  votes  at  the  presi 
dential  election  of  November  6,  1856. 

Lincoln's  old-time  political  and  personal  friends 
in  the  county  were  all  supporting  Fillmore. 
With  the  Democratic  party  they  were  united  in 
bitter  opposition  to  the  Republican  party;  and 

both  were  specially  incensed  at  Lincoln  for  the 

205 


206  Abraham  Lincoln 

prominent  part  he  had  taken  in  organizing  and 
promoting  a  new  party  in  the  campaign.  The 
Republican  State  Committee  had  declined  sending 
any  speakers  to  Menard,  that  county  being 
considered  politically  hopeless  in  that  campaign. 
At  length,  a  few  weeks  before  the  election  and 
principally  through  Lincoln's  solicitation,  the 
committee  consented  to  have  one  meeting  there, 
and  sent  Lincoln  to  address  it.  Mr.  Herndon 
also  was  sent  as  late  as  Saturday,  the  3d  of 
November,  to  speak  for  Fremont  at  Athens  in 
eastern  Menard,  near  the  Sangamon  County 
boundary. 

The  Fremont-Buchanan-Fillmore  campaign  of 
1856  was,  by  far,  a  more  bitterly  contested  presi 
dential  election  in  central  Illinois  than  any  during 
my  past  fifty  years.  The  posters  and  hand-bills 
announcing  the  date  when  Lincoln  would  speak 
in  Petersburg  had  been  repeatedly  torn  down  and 
as  often  put  up  again.  The  event  and  the  speaker 
thus  became  all  the  more  thoroughly  advertised. 
At  length,  on  a  beautiful  day  in  the  last  of  October, 
1856,  Lincoln  arrived  in  Petersburg  by  stage-coach, 
an  hour  or  two  after  its  schedule  time.  The  local 
committee,  tired  of  waiting,  had  scattered,  when 
unexpectedly  the  four-horse  coach  came  dashing 


As  Seen  in  Two  Speeches        207 

up  to  the  Menard  House.  Lincoln  alighted  alone, 
in  one  hand  his  campaign  satchel,  his  umbrella 
in  the  other,  wearing  the  now  famous  linen  duster. 
In  a  few  minutes  the  committee  met  him,  and 
then  music  by  a  primitive  brass  band  at  the  court 
house  platform,  opposite  the  Menard  House,  be 
gan  to  attract  the  crowd  thitherward  with  popular 
tunes.  Around  the  platform,  louder  and  louder, 
arose  hurrahs  for  Buchanan  and  for  Fillmore. 
No  voice  for  Fremont  rang  out  through  the 
crisp  air  to  cheer  the  coming  orator.  Lincoln 
could  hardly  have  had  less  political  sympathy 
that  day  if  he  had  entered  Charleston  or  Richmond 
for  that  purpose. 

The  committee,  a  corporars  guard  in  number 
(Republicans),  immediately  after  a  hurried  lunch 
for  Lincoln,  started  from  the  hotel  to  the  court 
house  yard  and  to  the  platform  erected  there. 
They  surrounded  Lincoln  as  they  marched  along, 
his  great  height  towering  head  and  shoulders  above 
them  all  as  they  went.  Before  reaching  the 
platform  they  unfurled  the  campaign  banner  of 
Fremont,  bearing  a  life-sized  portrait  of  the 
Pathfinder  in  glaring  colours,  and  above  this 
the  American  Flag,  and  a  long  white  streamer 
with  black  lettering  bearing  the  campaign  legend: 


208  Abraham  Lincoln 

'TREE  SPEECH,  FREE  SOIL;FREE  KANSAS 
AND  FREMONT." 

That  streamer  affected  the  crowd  very  much  as 
a  red  rag  would  a  herd  of  Texan  cattle  in  those 
days.  For  a  time  it  looked  as  if  the  meeting 
would  be  delayed  or  broken  up.  Rude  fellows 
of  the  rowdy  sort  had  boasted,  "No  d — d  abolition 
speeches  could  be  made  in  Menard  County  this 
campaign."  Had  any  other  Republican  than 
Lincoln  stood  before  those  Menard  people,  he 
would  not  have  been  heard.  Several  rushes  toward 
the  colours  and  banners  were  made,  with  the  evi 
dent  purpose  of  tearing  them  down.  Cat-calls, 
whistles,  and  tin  horns  added  to  the  din.  Shouts  of 
"Abolitionist,"  " Nigger  equality, "  with  snatches 
of  obscene  ballads  and  campaign  songs,  made  a 
bedlam  of  the  court-house  yard  and  the  surround 
ing  public  square.  At  intervals,  and  shrill  above 
all  such  sounds,  came  the  conflicting  huzzahs  for 
Buchanan  and  equally  loud  shouts  for  Fillmore. 
No  slogans  for  the  Republican  standard-bearer, 
Fremont,  came  from  the  excited  crowd  of  voters. 

At  length,  after  no  little  jostle  and  buffeting, 
the  committee  (half  a  dozen  or  so),  bearing  the 
flag  and  streamer,  appeared  and  mounted  the 
platform  with  Lincoln's  tall  form  towering  as 


As  Seen  in  Two  Speeches        209 

before  a  head  and  shoulders  above  the  throng  that 
pressed  him.  He  handed  his  hat  to  Dr.  Stevenson 
(who  later  organized  the  order  of  the  Grand  Army 
of  the  Republic),  moved  leisurely  to  the  front  of  the 
platform,  and  stood  there  silent,  rigid  as  a  statue, 
calmly  surveying  the  turbulent  mass  of  humanity 
before  him.  The  shouts  for  Buchanan,  alternating 
with  those  for  Fillmore,  and  the  general  din  of 
dissent  and  opposition  to  Lincoln,  surged  for 
awhile  with  more  vehemence  than  ever.  The 
political  atmosphere  was  decidedly  warm  in 
Petersburg  that  day.  Political  differences  were 
then  far  more  bitter  and  personal  than  now. 

The  orator  surveyed  the  scene  in  silence.  Nearly 
half  an  hour  passed.  He  stood  there  all  that 
while  motionless  as  a  statue.  The  only  change  I 
noticed  was  that  at  times  he  folded  both  arms 
across  his  chest,  then  releasing  them,  one  hand 
clasped  the  lapel  of  his  coat  and  the  other  arm 
hung  by  his  side,  the  hand  of  that  opening  and 
then  clutching  in,  apparently,  unconscious  ag 
gressiveness.  These  were  the  only  movements  of 
Lincoln  visible  to  those  who  stood  close  by  him. 
Then  a  partial  lull  came,  and  he  began  in  his  low 
est  out-door  voice  to  address  the  assembly  which 
he  thoroughly  understood.  Gradually  the  tumult 

near  him  grew  less,  then  a  desire  to  know  what 
14 


2io  Abraham  Lincoln 

he  was  saying  changed  to  s'houts  of  "Louder, 
louder. ' '  He  paused  a  brief  moment — turned  from 
right  to  left  in  a  masterful  glance  over  the  excited 
people  around  the  platform, — and  then  raised  his 
long  left  arm  above  his  head,  moving  slowly  his 
large  hand  up  and  down,  as  if  for  the  first  time 
asking  silence.  He  had  won  a  possible  chance  to 
be  heard.  Could  he  maintain  it?  He  resumed 
speaking.  Gradually  came  a  silence  of  all  voices 
but  the  speaker's,  and  that  arose  clear  and  re 
sonant,  easily  heard  throughout  the  court-house 
square.  That  voice  and  masterful  presence  de 
manded,  even  commanded,  the  hearing  that  awaited 
him.  In  less  than  half  an  hour  he  was  master, 
and  for  more  than  two  hours  he  held  the  mastery 
over  what  had  been  the  most  turbulent  of  audi 
ences.  Under  his  peculiar  control,  he  had  held  his 
hearers  silent.  There  was  no  applause,  not  even 
a  sign  of  approval  or  disapproval  throughout  his 
entire  speech.  The  few  Fremont  men  were  prud 
ent  enough  to  keep  still,  thus  helping  to  preserve 
order. 

Several  weeks  after  the  election  of  November 
6,  1856,  while  in  a  conversation  with  Mr.  Herndon 
at  the  law-office  in  Springfield  about  this  Peters 
burg  speech,  which  I  heard,  and  the  Lincoln 


As  Seen  in  Two  Speeches       211 

speech  at  Bloomington,  May  29,  1856,  before  the 
first  Republican  State  Convention,  which  he  had 
heard,  Lincoln  came  in.  Finding  us  comparing 
these  two  speeches,  he  stretched  himself  on  the 
office  lounge  and  after  a  while,  becoming  interested 
in  the  comparison  we  were  trying  to  make,  he 
came  to  our  assistance.  He  said  that  the  speeches 
were,  in  essential  matters,  nearly  the  same;  that 
the  Petersburg  speech  was  longer  in  delivery, 
because  his  audience  required  many  things  set 
forth  in  detail,  which  was  not  necessary  before 
the  more  select  Bloomington  convention.  He  di 
gressed  to  say  what  a  peculiar  preparation  he  had 
for  the  severe  ordeal  he  met  when  he  first  arrived 
in  Petersburg,  by  telling  us  of  his  stage-ride  from 
Springfield;  of  the  beautiful  October  morning 
and  the  familiar  landscapes  bordering  the  road; 
how  all  these  appeared  to  recall  old  associations 
and  memories.  The  road  on  which  he  came 
skirted  the  Sangamon  River  past  Salem  and  into 
Petersburg.  He  arrived  thoroughly  unprepared, 
he  said,  for  the  fierce  conditions  he  met,  but  he 
quickly  realized  the  job  he  had  before  him  and 
pulled  himself  out  of  the  thoughts  and  memories 
suggested  by  his  drive.  He  never  felt  more 
thoroughly  keyed  up  to  talk  to  any  people  than 
he  did  by  the  time  he  reached  the  platform,  and 


212  Abraham  Lincoln 

had  to  stand  silent  before  them  so  long  to  get  a 
quiet  hearing.  He  knew  they  were  not  the 
material  a  mob  could  be  made  of;  he  peppered 
them  first  with  his  silence ;  he  knew  all  the  middle- 
aged  and  older  people  present  and  many  of  the 
younger  ones,  and  he  was  sure  of  a  hearing  by 
waiting. 

"Billy, "  he  said  to  Herndon  as  he  rose  to  leave 
the  office,  ' '  I  never  felt  so  full  of  just  what  a  crowd 
ought  to  hear,  and  never  had  a  crowd  more 
competent,  from  the  common-sense  standpoint, 
than  the  Menard  County  one  was  to  hear  a  fair 
and  candid  statement  of  facts,  if  I  could  just  get 
them  still  for  half  an  hour  as  an  entering  wedge. 
This  I  did,  and  I  gave  them  my  best.  After  I  was 
well  under  way  it  was  the  most  enjoyable  of  all 
the  speeches  I  made  through  the  entire  campaign. 
The  returns  show  I  did  a  poor  day's  business 
down  there  for  the  State  Committee  so  far  as 
votes  count.  But  I  dropped  some  things  among 
voters  that  day  in  Menard  that  will  stay  until 
the  next  election.  I  soaked  that  crowd  full  of 
political  facts  they  can't  get  away  from." 

No  notes  of  the  speech  were  taken  at  the  time. 
It  was  not  even  reported  in  the  local  papers; 
neither  the  Petersburg  Democrat  (Buchanan)  nor 


As  Seen  in  Two  Speeches        213 

the  Menard  Index  (Fillmore)  mentioned  the 
event.  It  was  the  campaign  tactics  of  the  opposi 
tion  that  year  to  "damn  Fremont  by  silence," 
wherever  possible.  Only  a  memory  of  the  main 
division  of  the  speech  remains  with  me.  But 
there  are  some  sentences,  as  I  write,  that  come 
back  to  me  clearly,  as  spoken  on  that  afternoon, 
fifty-nine  years  ago,  and  I  repeat  them  here: 

"It  is  singular  that  the  Courts  would  hold," 
said  he,  referring  to  slavery,  "that  a  man  never 
lost  his  property  that  had  been  stolen  from  him, 
but  could  claim  it  anywhere,  and  in  whatever 
hands  found,  but  that  he  instantly  and  forever 
lost  his  right  to  himself  if  he  was  stolen!" 

The  clergy  of  Petersburg  and  vicinity  were 
nearly  all  from  the  South,  and  at  that  time  strong 
advocates  of  the  alleged  Biblical  authority  for 
slavery.  Lincoln  had  met  most  of  them  before 
while  living  in  Salem,  or  in  his  recent  attendance 
at  court  terms  at  Petersburg,  and  knew  their 
attitude  on  the  "peculiar  institution,"  as  they 
termed  slavery.  They  were  all  present  that  day, 
and  in  the  latter  part  of  his  speech,  following  the 
paragraph  first  quoted,  Lincoln  addressed  his 
remarks  directly  to  them,  in  colloquial  style,  on 


214  Abraham  Lincoln 

the  moral  perplexities  of  slavery.  This  portion 
of  his  speech  I  am  able  to  give  in  this  connection 
in  full,  just  as  I  heard  Lincoln  repeat  it  the  next 
year  before  another  audience,  where  it  was  taken 
down  by  a  reporter  and  afterwards  published. 

"The  sum,  of  pro-slavery  theology"  said 
Lincoln,  "seems  to  be  about  this:  Slavery  is  not 
universally  right,  or  wrong;  it  is  better  for  some 
people  to  be  slaves;  and,  in  such  cases,  it  is  the 
will  of  God  that  they  be  such.  Certainly,"  con 
tinued  Lincoln,  in  his  mildest  conversational 
voice,  "certainly  there  is  no  contending  against 
the  will  of  God;  and,  still,  there  is  some  difficulty 
in  ascertaining  and  applying  it  to  a  particular 
case.  For  instance, "  he  continued,  "we  will 
suppose  the  Rev.  Dr.  Ross  has  a  slave  named 
Sambo,  and  the  question  is:  'Is  it  the  will  of 
God  that  Sambo  shall  remain  a  slave,  or  be  set 
free?'  The  Almighty  gives  no  audible  answer  to 
the  question,  and  His  revelation,  the  Bible,  gives 
none; — or,  at  most,  none  but  such  as  admits  of  a 
squabble  as  to  its  meaning.  No  one  thinks  of 
asking  Sambo's  opinion  on  it.  So  at  last  it  comes 
to  this, — that  Dr.  Ross  is  to  decide  the  question; 
and  while  he  considers  it,  he  sits  in  the  shade, 
with  gloves  on  his  hands,  and  subsists  on  the 


As  Seen  in  Two  Speeches        215 

bread  that  Sambo  is  earning  in  the  burning  sun. 
If  he  decides  that  God  wills  Sambo  to  be  free,  he 
thereby  has  to  walk  out  of  the  shade,  throw  off 
his  gloves,  and  delve  for  his  bread.  Will  Dr. 
Ross  be  actuated  by  the  perfect  impartiality 
which  has  ever  been  considered  most  favourable 
to  a  correct  decision?" 

Then  on  asking  that  question,  abruptly  chang 
ing  from  his  colloquial  tone,  to  that  of  a  prophet 
and  seer,  he  exclaimed  in  his  highest  voice,  with 
emphasis : 

"When  I  see  strong  hands  sowing,  reaping,  and 
threshing  wheat  and  those  same  hands  grinding 
and  making  that  wheat  into  bread,  I  cannot  refrain 
from  wishing,  and  believing,  that  those  hands 
some  way,  in  God's  good  time,  shall  own  the  mouth 
they  feed!" 

In  the  early  part  of  his  speech  he  brought  in  the 
scriptural  figure  that  "a  house  divided  against 
itself  cannot  stand,"  in  a  way  similar  to  that  of 
May  29,  1856,  at  the  State  Republican  Convention 
in  Bloomington.  In  deference  to  friends  he  had 
consented  not  to  press  this  figure,  nor  the  corre 
lated  political  inferences  he  had  assembled  so 
graphically  about  it,  during  that  Fremont  cam 
paign.  But  the  high  tension  of  that  day's  sur 
roundings,  and  his  familiarity  with  the  personality 


216  Abraham  Lincoln 

^ 

of  his  hearers,  overcame  the  orator  too  thoroughly 
for  him  to  avoid  giving  full  utterance  to  the  truth 
as  he  saw  and  felt  it. 

Nearing  the  close  of  his  Petersburg  speech  he 
also  uttered  this  sentence,  twice  repeated  by  him 
in  later  speeches,  but  here  delivered  for  the  first 
time.  The  words  were  accompanied  by  one  of  his 
own  most  characteristic  gestures;  at  first  slightly 
stooping,  leaning  forward,  with  hands  crossed  in 
front  until  half  through  the  sentence,  then  gradu 
ally  unfolding  his  stalwart  frame  and  gently  rising 
with  each  closing  word  until,  standing  severely 
erect,  with  head  thrown  back  and  arms  extended, 
palms  outward  at  its  closing,  spoke  these  prophetic 
words : 

"The  result  is  not  doubtful — if  we  stand  firm 
we  cannot  fail,  we  shall  not  fail.  Wise  counsels 
may  accelerate,  or  mistakes  delay,  but,  sooner 
or  later,  the  victory  is  sure  to  come" 


The  Second  Speech:    Farewell 
Address 


217 


Washington  came  up  from  Virginia,  Lincoln  came 
down  from  Illinois ;  both  came  in  one  spotless  honour, 
in  one  self-denial,  in  one  patience  and  labour,  in  one 
love  of  man;  both  came  in  the  name  of  one  simple 
Christianity;  both  came  breathing  daily  prayers  to 
God,  as  though  to  prophesy  a  time  when  Virginia 
and  Illinois,  all  the  South  and  all  the  North,  would 
be  alike  in  love,  in  works,  in  religion,  and  in  national 
fame.  "The  flag  is  still  there,"  more  glorious  over 
the  schoolhouse,  the  church,  the  home,  and  the 
farm,  than  over  a  red  field  of  war. 

DAVID  SWING. 


218 


XI 


THE   SECOND   SPEECH — FAREWELL   ADDRESS 
FEBRUARY    II,    l86l 

AFTER  more  than  four  eventful  years,  he  de 
livered  the  other  notable  address  to  which  I  have 
referred.  It  was  his  farewell  to  the  citizens  of 
Springfield,  and  in  both  substance  and  manner 
of  delivery  it  was  a  strong,  clear  expression  of  his 
remarkable  personality.  Its  delivery  brought  out 
in  strongest  relief  the  elements  of  his  innermost 
character  as  some  great  artist  might  portray  his 
features  on  canvas. 

Lincoln  was  now  President  in  all  save  the  last 
formalities  which  were  to  take  place  a  few  days 
later  at  the  Capitol  in  Washington.  From  his 
election,  November  6,  1860,  to  February  n,  1861, 
his  life  had  been  the  most  unusual  ever  experi 
enced  by  any  President-elect  awaiting  the  cere 
mony  of  inauguration.  No  sketch  of  the  various 
public  and  private  interests  and  persons  that 

thronged  around  him  during  his  last  three  months 

219 


220  Abraham  Lincoln 

in  Springfield,  will  here  be  attempted.  Some  of 
these  visitors  came  by  his  invitation — others  from 
patriotic  motives — but  most  were  self-seekers  for 
office  under  the  new  administration.  Thus  early 
he  began  to  find  these  the  annoying  time-con 
sumers  of  his  years  in  the  White  House.  He 
passed  those  trying  first  months  after  his  election 
with  rare  wisdom,  patience,  and  tact.  Where  he 
could  not  agree,  or  wished  to  parry  questions 
which  no  foresight  could  then  safely  solve,  he 
became  the  questioner  himself,  or  sent  his  caller 
away  with  an  apt  story.  No  ill-considered  pro 
mise,  no  committal  on  policies  to  guide  his  adminis 
tration,  escaped  his  lips  to  compromise  or  tie  up 
his  future  usefulness.  There  were  no  such  indis 
cretions,  through  inexperience,  during  these  first 
months  when  he  appeared  in  national  view  as  the 
President  elect. 

On  the  evening  of  February  10,  1861,  he  spent 
his  last  hours  with  his  partner  in  the  old  office 
of  Lincoln  and  Herndon.  They  conferred  for  the 
last  time  on  a  few  unfinished  legal  affairs,  and 
arranged  minor  business  matters.  They  re 
mained  alone  until  late,  passed  down  the  stairway 
together  and  along  the  streets,  until  near  Lincoln's 
home,  where  they  parted  for  the  last  time  in 
Springfield. 


Farewell  Address  221 

The  morning  of  the  next  day  dawned  over  Spring 
field  through  leaden  skies  in  a  cold  grey  misty  air. 
Many  citizens  and  visitors  gathered  at  the  Wabash 
station  to  witness  Lincoln's  departure.  He  and  his 
family  arrived  timely  and  entered  the  car  reserved 
for  them,  not  stopping  in  the  waiting-room.  One 
after  another  of  the  party  who  were  to  accompany 
them  to  Washington,  or  only  part  of  the  way — as 
several  purposed  to  do — came,  before  or  after,  and 
entered  the  same  coach.  Those  were  tense  mo 
ments  for  the  people  who  waited  without.  Sched 
ule  time  for  starting  was  near.  Impatient  reporters 
were  anxious  lest  they  might  miss  a  chance  to  wire 
the  last  words  of  the  President-elect  from  Spring 
field.  Some  unfriendly  and  critical  partisan  neigh 
bours,  lookers  on,  ventured  to  say  he  would  leave 
without  any  parting  words.  The  expectation  had 
become  current  that  he  would  have  something  to 
disclose  that  morning  concerning  his  purposes  and 
policy,  to  allay  the  national  anxiety  existing  at 
that  hour  in  regard  to  his  position  on  slavery  and 
secession.  There  was  not  the  slightest  founda 
tion  for  this  in  anything  Lincoln  had  intimated; 
nevertheless  it  was  the  general  expectation. 

At  the  very  last  moment  Lincoln  appeared  at 
the  rear  door  of  the  car.  He  paused,  as  if  sur- 


222  Abraham  Lincoln 

prised  at  the  sudden  burst  of  applause  occasioned 
by  his  appearance,  and  removing  his  hat,  stepped 
out  on  the  platform,  bowing  right  and  left  and 
remaining  silent  until  the  salute  ceased.  His 
short  address  was  a  great  surprise  to  reporters 
and  politicians.  In  it  there  was  nothing  that 
satisfied  their  excited  expectations.  In  its  delivery 
there  were  no  gestures.  His  manner  was  calm 
and  self-contained,  yet  his  voice  was  tremulous 
with  suppressed  emotions,  while  strong  emphasis 
marked  many  words  and  sentences.  The  last 
sentence  was  spoken  in  lower  tones,  with  a  yearn 
ing  tenderness  in  his  voice,  most  unusual  to  him; 
and,  with  its  closing  words,  he  bowed  low,  and 
with  firmly  compressed  lips  whose  silence  meant  so 
much  to  those  who  knew  him  best,  turned  from 
his  position  on  the  platform  and  stood  at  the  open 
door,  while  the  train,  just  starting,  moved  slowly 
bearing  him  away  from  us  through  that  cold  grey 
misty  haze  of  rain.  Little  we  then  knew  how  he 
would  return!  Thank  God  for  the  shortness  of 
human  vision ;  that  he  who  went,  and  we  who  re 
mained,  could  not  then  discern  the  appalling  future 
that  so  darkly  hung  above  and  before  us  all ! 

•  This  was  the  last  view  of  Lincoln  by  his  home 
people.  He  stood  on  the  platform  at  the  door  of 


Farewell  Address  223 

his  car,  with  bared  head,  looking  back  on  the  town 
whose  citizens  he  had  just  reminded  so  touchingly, 
in  farewell  words,  of  his  love  and  grateful  obli 
gations  for  all  they  had  been  to  him  and  done  for 
him.  This  was  the  last  view  of  Springfield  by 
Abraham  Lincoln.  These  were  his  farewell  words : 

MY  FRIENDS: — No  one  not  in  my  situation  can 
appreciate  my  feelings  of  sadness  at  this  parting. 
To  this  place  and  the  kindness  of  this  people  I  owe 
everything.  Here  I  have  lived  a  quarter  of  a  century, 
and  have  passed  from  a  young  to  an  old  man.  Here 
my  children  were  born  and  one  lies  buried. 

I  now  leave,  not  knowing  when,  or  whether  ever, 
I  may  return,  with  a  task  before  me  greater  than 
that  which  rested  on  the  shoulders  of  Washington. 

Without  the  aid  of  that  Divine  Being  who  ever 
aided  him,  who  controls  mine  and  all  destinies,  I 
cannot  succeed.  With  that  assistance  I  cannot  fail. 

Trusting  in  Him  who  can  go  with  me  and  remain 
with  you,  and  be  everywhere  for  good,  let  us  con 
fidently  hope  that  all  will  be  well. 

To  His  care  commending  you,  as  I  hope  in  your 
prayers  you  will  commend  me,  I  bid  you,  friends  and 
neighbours,  an  affectionate  farewell. 

This  farewell  address  received  at  the  time  of 
its  delivery  nothing  like  the  attention  and  com- 


224  Abraham  Lincoln 

ment  given  to  the  shorter  speeches  that  Lincoln 
made  at  stopping  points  on  his  leisurely  trip  east. 
The  few  who  heard  this  address — and  they  did  not 
exceed  two  hundred — and  the  larger  public  reached 
by  the  daily  press  the  next  morning,  were  in  no 
mood  to  receive  enthusiastically  so'  short  and 
serious  a  farewell  address  from  the  President 
elect.  They  were  even  more  indifferent  at  that 
time  to  appreciate  his  personal  and  local  refer 
ences;  and  but  few  were  touched  by  his  familiar 
recognition  of  the  Divine  Being  to  whose  care  he 
commended  them  and  asked  them  in  their  prayers 
to  commend  him.  Springfield  and  the  country, 
both  the  North  and  the  South,  were  in  no  remi 
niscent  or  prayerful  mood,  that  sombre  morning 
of  February  n,  1861. 

This  address  and  the  one  he  delivered  at  Gettys 
burg  were  at  the  time  of  their  delivery  the  most 
disappointing  to  the  audiences  that  heard  them 
of  any  of  Lincoln's  speeches.  They  are  now  ap 
preciated  as  having  had  more  care  in  their 
preparation  than  any  equal  number  of  sentences 
he  ever  composed.  If  at  the  time  of  delivery 
they  passed  over  the  heads  of  those  who  heard 
them,  time  has  since  borne  them  into  the  classical 
immortality  their  merits  deserve. 


Farewell  Address  225 

The  excitement  incident  to  the  national  turmoil 
at  the  time  was  so  distracting  that  public  attention 
centered  on  the  more  practical  speeches  made 
by  Lincoln  from  place  to  place  along  his  route. 
The  last  was  at  Philadelphia,  and  was  followed  by 
a  hurried  night's  trip  through  Baltimore  and  an 
early  morning  arrival  in  Washington.  When  the 
startling  cause  for  such  haste  became  known  it 
completely  diverted  public  attention  from  all 
else  and  even  the  beauty  and  significance  of  this 
Farewell  Address  at  Springfield  was  forgotten. 
Not  until  his  lifeless  form  was  returned  to  Spring 
field  did  his  home  people  and  the  public  generally 
recall  the  beauty  and  power  of  Lincoln's  farewell 
"to  friends  and  neighbours." 

There  has  never  been  any  question  of  difference 
of  opinion  about  the  words  or  phrasing  of  Lincoln's 
Gettysburg  speech.  That  was  recorded  by  skilled 
reporters  and  all  the  copies  agree.  Very  different 
was  the  reporting  of  the  Springfield  address.  The 
reporters'  short-hand  notes  I  saw — and  I  believe 
I  had  access  to  all  of  them — showed  an  incomplete 
record  of  Lincoln's  words.  At  that  time  I  had 
only  made  sufficient  progress  in  stenography  to 
read  copy,  but  had  never  "taken  down"  a  public 
speaker.  Only  a  few  catch  words  were  recorded 

IS 


226  Abraham  Lincoln 

by  reporters  in  their  note  books  until  Lincoln 
began  the  fourth  sentence;  from  the  fifth  they 
followed  him  closer,  and  after  that  on  to  the  close, 
I  was  able  to  reconstruct  confidently  all  his  sen 
tences.  This  text  so  collated  was  submitted  for 
careful  comparison  by  several  of  the  friends  of 
Lincoln  who  were  present  and  this  resulted  in  an 
agreement  on  the  copy  here  reproduced.  As  a 
result  of  the  partial  stenographic  notes  which 
were  taken  and  the  writing  out  of  some  versions 
entirely  from  memory,  no  address  Lincoln  ever 
delivered  has  given  rise  to  so  wide  a  difference  of 
opinion  as  to  what  were  his  exact  words. 

In  this  address  Lincoln  made  four  marked  pauses 
which  are  indicated  by  the  spacing  between 
paragraphs  in  this  copy.  His  pauses  between 
sentences  were  longer  than  are  usually  given  to  a 
period.  The  last  two  sentences  were  less  audible 
and  his  emotions  while  he  delivered  them  almost 
controlled  his  voice.  Dr.  Bateman  who  stood 
nearer  him  says,  "his  pale  face  was  literally  wet 
with  tears";  I  did  not  observe  any. 

Were  these  farewell  sentences  improvised  at  the 
time  of  delivery?  I  do  not  think  so.  They  are 
unlike  Lincoln's  words  in  impromptu  speech.  I 
asked  Mr.  Herndon  a  few  days  afterward  if  he 


Farewell  Address  227 

knew  of  Lincoln's  intention  to  speak  at  all,  or  that 
he  would  be  so  personal  and  brief,  not  dealing 
with  the  political  and  National  situation,  as  most 
people  anticipated  he  would.  He  replied  that 
Lincoln  in  their  last  interview  at  the  office  the 
night  before  his  departure  said  nothing  about  it; 
but  that  just  as  he  bade  him  good-bye,  he  asked 
if  he  expected  to  give  any  last  words  at  the  Wabash 
depot  the  next  morning.  Lincoln  replied  that 
he  did  not  suppose  there  would  be  occasion  for 
any,  as  only  those  going  would  be  there;  and 
Herndon's  reply  was  that  he  thought  there  would 
be  many  others,  and  believed  there  was  a  general 
expectation  that  he  would  say  something  about 
the  distracted  condition  of  the  country.  To  this 
he  said  Lincoln  made  no  reply.  It  was  Herndon's 
opinion  that  on  leaving  him  he  gave  his  mind  up 
to  meditation  on  a  farewell  speech,  and  that  the 
thoughts  he  delivered  became  shaped  before  he 
slept  that  night;  though  neither  he  nor  any  one 
else  could  be  sure  of  this. 

These  few  sentences  were  the  fruitage  of  one  of 
Lincoln's  brooding,  concentrated  moods.  It  was 
no  sudden,  impromptu  impulse  that  gave  his 
friends  and  neighbours  such  heartfelt  and  prophetic 
sentences  at  parting.  It  did  not  require  Presi 
dential  experience  to  qualify  Lincoln  to  express 


228  Abraham  Lincoln 

as  no  one  else  has  done,  in  language  of  such 
pathos  and  power,  the  choicest  human  senti 
ments  and  feelings,  embodied  in  plainest  English 
words. 

In  the  Lincoln  National  Memorial  to  be  erected 
in  the  city  of  Washington  it  is  proposed  that  the 
Gettysburg  speech,  and  portions  from  Lincoln's 
two  inaugural  addresses,  be  placed  on  appropriate 
tablets.  It  is  proper  and  wise  patriotism,  for 
Lincoln's  thoughts  and  spirit  thus  to  find  place 
in  the  monumental  recognition  of  a  nation's 
gratitude  and  love  for  its  prophet-President, 
in  the  words  he  spoke  on  those  historic  occasions. 
Though  dead,  his  character  still  lives  to  admonish 
and  inspire.  But  these  selections  would  be  in 
complete  if  limited  to  the  ones  mentioned.  I 
believe  we  all  have  reason  to  anticipate  that  those 
in  charge  of  the  erection  of  this  great  national 
tribute, — as  well  as  those  in  charge  of  erecting 
the  statue  of  Lincoln  on  the  grounds  of  the  Capitol 
of  Illinois, — will  both  appreciate  and  recognize 
this  Farewell  Address  at  Springfield  as  deserving 
precedence  among  the  tablets  of  the  one,  and  at 
the  base  of  the  other,  as  a  most  important  part  of 
Lincoln's  eloquent  life  to  be  cast  in  bronze  and 
carved  in  granite.  These  Farewell  words  express, 


Farewell  Address  229 

in  fullest  measure,  the  spirit  and  purpose  of  him 
for  whom  that  State  Statue  and  the  National 
Monument  shall  arise.  They  were  his  first  words 
spoken  on  the  threshold  of  his  appearance  in 
executive  view  as  the  Nation's  Chief.  They 
who  knew  the  man  and  walked  and  talked  with 
him  in  his  daily  life  before  the  nation  called  him 
for  her  executive  head,  see  in  this  address  the 
maturity,  the  goodness,  and  the  greatness  of 
Lincoln.  In  these  words  he  voices  his  gratitude 
for  the  past;  he  looks  modestly  forward  to  the 
stupendous  "  task  before  him ;  he  pledges  his 
faith  so  firmly;  he  appeals  so  inspiringly  with 
hope  in,  and  for,  his  Country's  darkest  hour,— 
all,  inclusive,  telling  the  character  of  this  First 
American,  and  how  clearly  he  discerned  even 
at  that  early  date  the  magnitude  of  the  prob 
lems  before  him  for  solution  in  our  distracted 
country. 

Carve  these  words  of  farewell  to  Springfield 
friends  in  enduring  bronze  and  granite,  for  they 
embody,  as  we  now  see,  a  Nation's  prelude,  by 
its  Chief,  to  the  historic  tragedy  then  ushering 
in,  whose  years  of  terrific  strain  and  strife  should 
at  last  end  in  the  closer  union  of  these  reunited 
States;  and  by  both  this  Statue  and  National 
Monument  our  country  shall  henceforth  forever 


230  Abraham  Lincoln 

• 

commemorate  his  memory  in  fraternal  unity. 
These  words  are  no  longer  for  the  few  he  addressed, 
but — alike  with  him  who  spoke  them — they  belong 
to  the  Ages! 


Between  the  Two  Speeches  of 
National  Importance 


231 


There  have  been  orators  whose  speeches  we  may 
read  for  the  beauty  of  their  language,  with  little 
regard  to  the  circumstances  of  time  and  place  that 
led  to  their  being  delivered.  Lincoln  is  not  one  of 
these.  His  speeches  need  to  be  studied  in  close 
relation  to  the  occasions  which  called  them  forth. 
They  are  not  brilliant  displays  of  rhetoric.  They 
are  a  part  of  his  life.  They  are  serious,  practical, 
grave.  We  feel  that  the  man  does  not  care  to  play 
over  the  surface  of  his  subject,  or  to  use  it  as  a  way 
of  displaying  his  cleverness.  He  is  trying  to  get 
right  down  to  the  very  foundation  of  the  matter  and 
tell  us  what  his  real  thoughts  about  it  are.  There  is 
no  superfluous  ornament  in  his  orations,  nothing 
tawdry,  nothing  otiose.  He  addresses  the  reason  of 
his  hearers,  and  when  he  does  appeal  to  emotion, 
he  does  it  quietly,  even  solemnly.  Alike  in  thought 
and  language  he  is  simple,  plain,  direct.  But  he 
states  certain  truths  in  phrases  so  aptly  chosen  and  so 
forcible,  that  one  feels  that  those  truths  could  have 
been  conveyed  in  no  other  words.  Few  characters 
stand  out  so  clearly  revealed  in  their  words,  whether 
spoken  or  written,  as  his  does. 

JAMES  BRYCE. 


232 


XII 

BETWEEN  THE  TWO  SPEECHES  OF  NATIONAL 
IMPORTANCE 

THE  progress  of  events,  after  what  was  claimed 
to  be  the  final  settlement  in  1850  by  the  compro 
mise  measures  then  enacted,  went  forward  rapidly 
and  unexpectedly,  North  as  well  as  South,  East 
as  well  as  West.  In  all  these  conflicts  of  opinion 
Lincoln  became  more  and  more  an  earnest  active 
student  of  the  principles,  ethical  and  politi 
cal,  that  separated  the  contending  sections.  He 
found  himself  drifting — but  with  reluctance — into 
the  practical  concession  that  slavery  must,  for 
a  while,  be  a  national  issue ;  and  its  ultimate  solu 
tion  to  be  worked  out  in  policies  of  the  Federal 
Government  for  the  new  Territories,  then  rapidly 
settling  up  with  citizens  from  both  North  and 
South,  and  soon  to  be  organized  as  States. 

Coals  of  fire  from  the  altar  of  Liberty  had 
burned  into  the  soul  of  Lincoln  until  a  flame  of 
steadfast  purpose  was  kindled,  that  those  new 
States  should  never  be  the  home  of  slaves;  that 

233 


234  Abraham  Lincoln 

their  soil  was  too  sacred  to  be  trod  by  other  than 
free  men.  In  this  resolve,  once  formed,  he  never 
faltered;  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill  of  Douglas  at 
once  aroused  all  the  active  or  dormant  energies 
within  him  who  was  destined,  from  1856  to  1860, 
to  be  the  leader  of  a  new  era  in  this  nation,  and 
thereafter  its  patient  and  far-seeing  executive  head 
to  establish  the  Union  of  all  the  States  and  secure 
them  from  the  anarchy  of  secession. 

During  this  crisis  Lincoln  did  not  "lose  his 
head,'*  as  did  so  many  North  and  South.  While 
there  was  no  faltering  in  his  devotion  to  the  prin 
ciples  of  Freedom,  the  political  turbulence  of 
the  hour  brought  into  view  what  he  considered 
the  most  serious  peril  by  which  this  nation  could 
be  confronted,  viz.,  the  right  of  a  State  to  secede  at 
pleasure  from  the  National  Union.  The  two  issues 
in  view  of  national  politics  had  been  carefully, 
even  warmly,  discussed  between  Lincoln  and 
Herndon,  especially  after  the  national  agitations 
of  1848  and  1850.  Mr.  Herndon  maintained 
that  slavery  was  the  first  and  paramount — indeed 
the  only — issue;  and  the  union  of  the  States 
secondary.  Lincoln  urged,  with  even  greater 
firmness,  that  slavery  was  temporary  and  would, 
of  necessity,  under  the  influence  and  pressure  of 
modern  financial  and  social  life,  cease  and  pass 


Between  Two  Important  Speeches  235 

away  because  of  its  inherent  weakness  and  its 
vicious  character.  He  held  that,  if  slavery  alone 
embodied  our  national  difficulties,  then  there  was 
no  imminent  danger;  that  time  and  patience 
would  adjust  all  differences;  but  that  if  secession 
was  to  be  a  part  of  the  plan  for  slavery's  preserva 
tion,  then  to  permit  it  was  national  suicide,  never 
to  be  allowed.  The  more  violent  the  attitude 
of  extremists  in  the  North  and  South  on  the 
slavery  question  became  from  1854  to  1860,  the 
more  thoroughly  convinced  and  emphatic  became 
Lincoln,  in  his  private  talks  with  his  partner,  that 
the  secession  of  the  Southern  States,  on  the  plea 
of  State  rights,  was  the  greater  impending  calamity 
that  confronted  the  country.  He  said  this  clearly 
from  the  beginning. 

It  was  at  the  climax  of  these  discussions  in  1856 
that  he  prepared  his  speech  on  "a  house  divided 
against  itself."  He  used  a  portion  of  the  first 
draft  of  this  in  a  speech  at  Bloomington  in  May 
of  that  year.  Several  political  friends,  Judge 
Dickey  and  Hon.  E.  B.  Washburne  among  them, 
strongly  urged  him  not  to  deliver  this  speech 
again.  To  their  earnest  plea  he  reluctantly 
promised  not  to  press  this  in  the  campaign  of 
1856,  but  he  would  not  pledge  himself  never  to 


236  Abraham  Lincoln 

repeat  it;  "For  it  is  God's  truth,"  said  he,  "and 
I  am  sure  we  will  all  come  to  see  it  and  be  willing 
to  say  so  before  long."  Once,  in  October  of  that 
year,  in  Petersburg,  he  felt  it  necessary  to  use  the 
simile  with  its  broadest  application  among  his 
former  friends  and  neighbours. 

The  first  draft  of  this  Bloomington  and  Peters 
burg  speech  as  delivered  in  1856,  was  written  on 
odd  sheets  of  paper,  old  envelopes,  or  whatever 
came  handy  at  the  time.  Those  he  filed  away 
for  the  present  after  the  Bloomington  Convention. 
Nearly  two  years  had  passed.  He  had,  mean 
while,  carefully  considered  the  whole  subject  anew. 
The  time  for  the  Republican  Convention  at 
Springfield  in  June,  1858,  was  at  hand.  To  Mr. 
Herndon  he  said  he  had  waited  long  enough.  He 
would  live  or  die,  politically,  by  the  "God's 
truth"  that  speech  would  declare.  He  took  up 
the  memoranda  prepared  so  long  before  and 
again  carefully  wrote  out  that  speech.  It  was 
noticeable  to  those  in  his  office  that  he  gave  more 
attention  than  was  his  habit  while  preparing 
an  important  speech  to  fitting  sentences  and 
historical  data,  from  paragraph  to  paragraph. 
This  was  personally  gratifying  to  Mr.  Herndon, 
who  had  gone  almost  to  the  verge  of  offending 
Lincoln  to  prevail  on  him  to  cut  out  his  story- 


Between  Two  Important  Speeches  237 

telling  style  in  speeches.  Herndon  was  the  first  to 
discern  and  appreciate  the  singular  facility  of  Lincoln 
for  combining  a  sustained  diction  of  logic  with 
pathos  and  dignity;  and  he  insisted  that  here  lay 
his  best  opportunity  and  power  as  a  public  speaker. 

Another  aid  to  this  end — though  the  manner 
and  time  when  it  came  made  it  unfriendly  and 
cruel — was  the  part  taken  by  The  Springfield 
Enterprise,  a  new  and  vigorously  independent 
daily  paper  whose  editor,  Washington  Wright, 
severely  criticized  the  new  party  for  its  choice  of 
Lincoln  to  contest  with  Senator  Douglas  as  its 
candidate  for  Senator.  Wright's  criticisms  ap 
peared  nearly  every  day  for  a  couple  of  months 
before  the  Springfield  Convention  of  June,  1858. 
By  keenest  satire,  in  both  prose  and  poetry,  he 
kept  the  political  foes,  and  even  some  of  Lincoln's 
lukewarm  friends,  in  broad  grins  of  enjoyment  at 
Lincoln's  expense.  This  cut  Lincoln  deeply,  as 
Editor  Wright  intended  it  should,  but  it  had  no 
influence  to  change  the  party's  choice.  Coming 
at  the  time  when  Lincoln  was  carefully  prepar 
ing  the  "house  divided  against  itself"  speech,  it 
undoubtedly  had  some  influence  with  him  while 
writing  out  what  proved  to  be  the  most  striking 
speech  made  by  him  up  to  that  time. 

As  the  date  came  near  for  the  Convention  of 


238  Abraham  Lincoln 

June,  1858,  Lincoln  had  finished  his  last  draft  of 
this  speech.  He  proposed  to  deliver  it,  should 
he  be  nominated — as  was  then  generally  expected, 
— as  the  key-note  of  his  campaign  as  candidate 
for  United  States  Senator.  He  read  it  first  in  the 
office  to  Mr.  Herndon  and  two  young  friends 
familiar  with  its  preparation.  Herndon,  while 
agreeing  with  all  that  the  speech  expressed,  was 
yet,  as  he  told  Lincoln,  fearful  lest  the  public  was 
not  yet  ready  to  hear  statements  so  radical.  He 
conceded  that  it  would  be  a  brave  thing,  after  so 
long  holding  back  the  speech,  to  deliver  it ;  saying, 
"If  you  are  ready  to  face  the  fight  on  this  high 
plane,  certainly  I  will  stand  by  you.  So  should  all 
true  friends  of  the  Republican  party. ' '  Lincoln  was 
more  than  willing  to  take  this  lead;  he  had  been 
awaiting  an  opportunity,  and  gladly  accepted  the 
date  of  this  convention  as  the  time  for  its  delivery. 
The  next  day  he  invited  a  number  of  select 
political  friends  to  meet  him  in  the  State  Library, 
to  whom  he  read  the  speech,  or  rather,  sitting  in 
his  chair,  talked  it  to  them,  as  the  pages  were 
so  familiar  that  he  only  occasionally  turned  the 
sheets,  or  followed  the  paragraphs  with  an  occa 
sional  glance.  All  present  listened  closely,  for  it 
was  understood  that  his  speech  would  commit 
the  party  in  Illinois  to  its  principles  in  the  coming 


Between  Two  Important  Speeches  239 

campaign.  It  was  soon  evident  that  portions  of 
the  speech  were  not  approved.  After  the  reading, 
he  called  upon  one  after  another  for  his  opinion. 
Most  disapproved  and  none  except  Mr.  Herndon 
favoured  his  delivering  it  at  that  time,  unless 
he  should  leave  out  the  section  on  the  "house 
divided  against  itself."  Mr.  Herndon  related  to 
me  on  the  following  day  what  transpired  in  the 
conference.  He  said  that  Lincoln  was  courteous 
and  even  conciliatory  in  the  discussions,  but  was 
firmly  determined  not  to  change  the  speech.  It 
was  not  changed,  but  on  the  evening  of  the  i6th 
of  June,  1858,  after  his  nomination  as  candidate 
for  United  States  Senator,  he  delivered  it  in  the 
Representatives  Hall  of  the  State  House  to  one  of 
the  largest  audiences  ever  assembled  there.  Its 
main  parts  were  immediately  published  in  all  the 
principal  papers  North  and  South. 

During  the  delivery  of  this  speech  the  orator 
carried  his  audience  with  him  surprisingly  well. 
He  was  at  his  best  throughout,  and  was  loudly 
cheered.  It  was  a  happy  ending  to  the  suspense 
of  many  of  his  friends.  The  speech,  as  a  whole, 
placed  Lincoln  in  his  home  city  far  above  the 
position  he  had  occupied  before  as  a  thinker  and  a 
speaker.  It  ended  Editor  Wright's  satire.  Thence 
forward  none  of  his  friends  doubted  his  ability  to 


240  Abraham  Lincoln 

meet  Douglas  in  the  campaign,  for  which  this  was 
the  opening  challenge. 

Within  a  few  days  the  office  began  to  receive 
letters  deploring  the  advanced  position  taken  so 
early  in  the  campaign,  and  prophecies  of  disaster 
followed  if  Lincoln  should  prosecute  the  campaign 
on  "this  abolition  basis."  Had  this  reaction 
ary  wave  come  two  years  earlier  it  would  have 
distressed  Lincoln.  Not  so  now.  Mature  study 
had  established  him  too  firmly  to  be  shaken. 
The  criticisms  became  less  frequent.  Portions 
of  this  speech,  published  all  over  the  Union, 
were  the  first  political  introduction  of  Lincoln 
to  the  national  public. 

It  was  a  remarkable  position  to  be  taken  at 
that  time.  It  touched  the  national  conscience, 
North  and  South,  both  for  and  against  its  princi 
ples  .  It  sized  up  the  political  problems  before  the 
country  in  such  a  practical  way  as  neither  Se ward's 
Irrepressible  Conflict  nor  Helper's  book  on  the 
Impending  Crisis  had  done.  It  hastened  in  all 
sections  public  recognition  of  the  exact  political 
issues  before  the  country,  and  made  possible  in  a 
practical  way,  after  1858,  that  intelligent  dis 
cussion  which  ripened  public  sentiment  for  the 
nomination  of  Lincoln  in  the  campaign  of  1860. 


The  Cooper  Institute  Speech 


16  241 


I  chanced  to  open  the  other  day  his  Cooper  Institute 
speech.  This  was  one  of  the  few  printed  speeches 
that  I  did  not  hear  him  deliver  in  person.  As  I  read 
the  concluding  pages  of  that  speech,  the  conflict  of 
opinion  that  preceded  the  conflict  of  arms  then 
sweeping  upon  the  country  like  an  approaching  solar 
eclipse  seemed  prefigured  like  a  chapter  of  the  Book 
of  Fate.  Here  again  he  was  the  Old  Testament 
prophet,  before  whom  Horace  Greeley  bowed  his 
head,  saying  that  he  had  never  listened  to  a  greater 
speech,  although  he  had  heard  several  of  Webster's 
best. 

HORACE   WHITE. 


242 


XIII 

THE  COOPER  INSTITUTE   SPEECH 

LINCOLN  lost  the  senatorship,  but  he  won  a 
larger  victory.  He  became  recognized  as  the 
most  practical  and  clear-thinking  representative 
of  the  free-soil  sentiment  in  the  entire  nation. 
To  the  public  Lincoln  showed  no  disappointment 
under  his  defeat.  Within  himself  he  felt  no 
sting;  but  from  this  time  forth  he  manifested  an 
unrest,  and  was  less  the  office  lawyer  than  ever 
before.  All  through  the  next  winter  in  an  unusual 
degree,  he  was  unsettled  as  to  how  he  should 
find  an  outlet  or  field  for  his  mental  activity. 
The  practice  of  law  had  lost  its  charms  for  him. 
He  tried  the  lecture  field  a  few  times,  with  in 
different  success,  returning  home  more  discouraged 
and  despondent  than  I  had  ever  seen  him. 

In  October,  1859,  he  had  an  invitation  from  New 
York  to  deliver  a  lecture  in  the  Cooper  Institute, 
the  subject  to  be  of  his  own  selection.  He  as 
sented,  and  named  February,  1860,  as  the  time; 
his  subject  to  be  a  political  one.  He  had  mis- 

243 


244  Abraham  Lincoln 

givings,  at  first,  as  to  his  ability  to  interest  an 
Eastern  metropolitan  audience  in  the  subject 
which  he  had  chosen.  However,  his  old  cam 
paign  interest  and  energy  came  back  to  him  the 
more  he  became  absorbed  in  the  collection  of  data 
upon  which  to  build  his  speech.  He  had  repeated 
interviews  and  discussions  at  the  office  with  Mr. 
Herndon,  going  over  their  stores  of  campaign 
literature  to  block  out  the  matter  available  for  use 
in  preparing  this  political  lecture  for  what  he 
expected  to  be  a  most  critical  audience.  He  was 
at  length  fully  satisfied  in  his  selection  of  his 
material  and  how  much  he  should  use  in  writing 
out  the  speech.  His  first  and  second  drafts  were 
cast  aside,  and  the  entire  field  traversed  anew. 
Mr.  Herndon  remarked  to  me  that  Lincoln  had 
gone  into  his  subjects  far  too  deeply  for  him  to 
follow.  He  only  offered  suggestions  on  the  re 
arrangement  of  some  sentences  and  paragraphs 
in  the  last  copy. 

It  may  be  of  interest  to  add  some  mention  of 
the  laborious  care  Lincoln  took  in  preparation  for 
his  debate  with  Douglas  by  studious  application 
from  June  until  the  debates  began.  It  was  a 
summer  in  which  that  mood,  spoken  of  before,  of 
intense  application  to  the  work  before  him  shut 


The  Cooper  Institute  Speech     245 

out  everything  else.  He  was  in  the  State  Library 
nearly  every  day,  searching  old  volumes  of  the 
Congressional  Globe,  and  other  original  sources 
of  information.  He  went  through  the  clippings 
he  and  Mr.  Herndon  had  made  since  1848  from 
the  Charleston  Mercury,  Richmond  Enquirer,  Louis- 
mile  Journal,  and  other  Southern  papers;  and  with 
especial  care  he  again  went  through  the  back  num 
bers  of  the  Southern  Literary  Messenger,  re-reading 
articles  by  the  best  Southern  writers  on  the  policies 
that  divided  public  opinion  on  the  question  of 
slavery  and  States'  rights. 

His  campaign  note-books,  when  finished,  could 
not  have  been  more  complete  to  meet  the  expected 
and  unexpected  questions  liable  to  be  sprung  on 
him  during  the  debate.  He  was  no  longer  the 
Abraham  Lincoln  with  leisure  for  the  interests 
of  all  callers.  He  lived  through  laborious  days 
and  often  late  into  studious  nights;  and  when  he 
went  forth  into  that  debate  it  was  with  a  firm 
foundation  of  well-settled  principles,  and  fully 
equipped  with  all  historical  and  collateral  data 
possible  to  be  acquired  by  him  on  the  live  political 
issues  of  the  day.  Best  of  all  was  the  complete 
confidence  he  had  acquired  in  himself  of  his  ability 
to  meet  Senator  Douglas,  or  any  other  publicist 
North  or  South,  in  the  discussion  of  the  interests 


246  Abraham  Lincoln 

and  problems  then  before  the  country.  This  was 
no  self-asserting  egotism.  He  was  the  freest  from 
that  of  all  men  who  have  ever  engaged  the  atten 
tion  of  the  nation. 

In  the  preparation  of  the  Cooper  Institute 
speech  Lincoln  showed  the  great  grasp  he  had 
acquired  in  the  discussion  of  political  events, 
and  his  peculiar  originality  in  moulding  sentences 
and  paragraphs.  The  finished  speech  grew  very 
slowly.  Herndon's  patience  was  tried  sorely  at 
times  to  see  him  loitering  and  cutting,  as  he 
thought,  too  laboriously;  but  when  the  speech 
was  completed,  he  admitted  it  was  well  worth  the 
time  devoted  to  it,  and  that  it  would  be  the 
crowning  effort  of  Lincoln's  life  up  to  that  time 
as  it  certainly  proved  to  be.  It  was  past  the 
middle  of  February  before  the  speech  was  com 
pleted  and  put  into  the  folder  ready  for  Lincoln's 
departure.  And  even  later,  every  day  until  it 
was  placed  in  his  travelling  satchel,  he  took  out 
the  sheets  and  carefully  went  over  the  pages, 
making  notations  here  and  there,  and  even  writing 
whole  pages  over  again. 

In  his  later  years  in  Springfield  he  became  more 
and  more  in  the  habit  of  revising  all  he  had  written 
down  to  the  latest  hour  possible  before  delivery. 


The  Cooper  Institute  Speech     247 

I  was  told  by  his  secretary,  Mr.  Hay,  that  such 
was  his  habit  in  Washington  while  President. 
He  disliked  very  much  to  give  out  the  advanced 
copy  so  dear  to  the  press  agents ;  and  his  secretary 
had  no  little  trouble  because  of  this  rule.  His 
mind  was  ever  alert  to  catch  his  last  moment's 
thought  and  intuition  before  public  delivery. 
After  delivery  he  gave  himself  no  concern  to  change 
or  preserve  for  use  or  revision,  anything  he  had 
written  or  spoken.  Few  public  men  ever  repeated 
themselves  so  seldom  as  did  Lincoln. 

None  of  Lincoln's  friends  went  with  him  to 
New  York,  or  were  present  when  he  delivered 
the  Cooper  Institute  speech.  He  left  Springfield 
for  the  East  as  quietly  as  if  going  out  to  attend 
some  one  of  the  courts  of  the  Eighth  District, 
the  local  papers  not  mentioning  his  absence  from 
the  city. 

The  opinion  and  estimate  of  those  who  heard 
this  speech  in  New  York  is  the  more  convincing 
criterion  of  its  value  than  anything  Lincoln's 
Springfield  friends  might  say  of  it.  The  con 
sideration  these  new  and  more  critical  friends  had 
of  him  and  his  speech  before  and  after  its  delivery 
are  strikingly  contrasting  ones.  I  shall  therefore 
give  space  here  to  their  estimate.  There  is  no 
better  account  of  this  than  that  written  by  Charles 


248  Abraham  Lincoln 

C.  Nott  which  was  published  in  1909  in  George 
Haven  Putnam's  Abraham  Lincoln:  The  People's 
Leader  in  the  Struggle  for  National  Existence.  It 
is  so  illuminating  of  the  circumstances  connected 
with  Lincoln's  appearance  before  an  Eastern  audi 
ence  that  I  include  it  here  in  preference  to  any  other. 

The  Cooper  Institute  address  [says  Mr.  Nott], 
is  one  of  the  most  important  addresses  ever  delivered 
in  the  life  of  this  nation,  for  at  an  eventful  time  it 
changed  the  course  of  history.  When  Mr.  Lincoln  rose 
to  speak  on  the  evening  of  February  27,  1860,  he  had 
held  no  administrative  office;  he  had  endeavoured  to 
be  appointed  Commissioner  of  Patents,  and  had 
failed;  he  had  sought  to  be  elected  United  States 
Senator,  and  had  been  defeated ;  he  had  been  a  member 
of  Congress,  yet  it  was  not  even  remembered ;  he  was  a 
lawyer  in  humble  circumstances,  persuasive  of  juries, 
but  had  not  reached  the  front  rank  of  the  Illinois 
Bar.  The  record  which  Mr.  Lincoln  himself  placed  in 
the  Congressional  Directory  in  1847  might  still  be 
taken  as  the  record  of  his  public  and  official  life : 

"Born  February  12,  1809.  in  Hardin  County, 
Kentucky. 

Education  defective. 

Profession  a  lawyer. 

Have  been  a  captain  of  volunteers  in  the  Black 
Hawk  War. 


The  Cooper  Institute  Speech     249 

Postmaster  in  a  very  small  office. 

Four  times  a  member  of  the  Illinois  Legislature 
and  was  a  member  of  the  lower  house  of  Congress." 

Was  this  the  record  of  a  man  who  should  be  made 
the  head  of  a  nation  in  troubled  times?  In  the  estima 
tion  of  thoughtful  Americans  east  of  the  Alleghanies 
all  that  they  knew  of  Mr.  Lincoln  justified  them  in  re 
garding  him  as  only  "a  Western  stump  orator" — suc 
cessful,  distinguished,  but  nothing  higher  than  that — 
a  Western  stump  orator,  who  had  dared  to  brave  one 
of  the  strongest  men  in  the  Western  States,  and  who 
had  done  so  with  wonderful  ability  and  moral  success. 
When  Mr.  Lincoln  closed  his  address  he  had  risen  to 
the  rank  of  statesman,  and  had  stamped  himself  a 
statesman  peculiarly  fitted  for  the  exigency  of  the 
hour. 

Mr.  William  Cullen  Bryant  presided  at  the  meeting; 
and  a  number  of  the  first  and  ablest  citizens  of  New 
York  were  present,  among  them  Horace  Greeley. 
Mr.  Greeley  was  pronounced  in  his  appreciation  of 
the  address;  it  was  the  ablest,  the  greatest,  the  wisest 
speech  that  had  yet  been  made ;  it  would  reassure  the 
conservative  Northerner;  it  was  just  what  was 
wanted  to  conciliate  the  excited  Southerner;  it  was 
conclusive  in  its  argument,  and  would  assure  the 
overthrow  of  Douglas.  Mr.  Horace  White  has 
recently  written:  "I  chanced  to  open  the  other 
day  his  Cooper  Institute  speech.  This  is  one  of  the 
few  printed  speeches  that  I  did  not  hear  him  deliver 


250  Abraham  Lincoln 

in  person.  As  I  read  the  concluding  pages  of  that 
speech,  the  conflict  of  opinion  that  preceded  the 
conflict  of  arms  then  sweeping  upon  the  country  like 
an  approaching  solar  eclipse  seemed  prefigured  like  a 
chapter  of  the  Book  of  Fate.  Here  again  he  was 
the  Old  Testament  prophet,  before  whom  Horace 
Greeley  bowed  his  head,  saying  that  he  had  never 
listened  to  a  greater  speech,  although  he  had  heard 
several  of  Webster's  best."  Later,  Mr.  Greeley 
became  the  leader  of  the  Republican  forces  opposed 
to  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Seward  and  was  instru 
mental  in  concentrating  those  forces  upon  Mr.  Lincoln. 
Furthermore,  the  great  New  York  press  on  the  follow 
ing  morning  carried  the  address  to  the  country,  and 
before  Mr.  Lincoln  left  New  York  he  was  telegraphed 
from  Connecticut  to  come  and  aid  in  the  campaign 
of  the  approaching  spring  election.  He  went,  and 
when  the  fateful  moment  came  in  the  Convention, 
Connecticut  was  one  of  the  Eastern  States  which 
first  broke  away  from  the  Seward  column  and  went 
over  to  Mr.  Lincoln.  When  Connecticut  did  this, 
the  die  was  cast. 

It  is  difficult  for  younger  generations  of  Americans 
to  believe  that  three  months  before  Mr.  Lincoln  was 
nominated  for  the  Presidency  he  was  neither  appreci 
ated  nor  known  in  New  York.  That  fact  can  be 
better  established  by  a  single  incident  than  by  the 
opinions  and  assurances  of  a  dozen  men. 


The  Cooper  Institute  Speech     251 

After  the  address  had  been  delivered,  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  taken  by  two  members  of  the  Young  Men's  Cen 
tral  Republican  Union — Mr.  Hiram  Barney,  afterward 
Collector  of  the  Port  of  New  York,  and  Mr.  Nott, 
one  of  the  subsequent  editors  of  the  address — to  their 
club,  the  Athenasum,  where  a  very  simple  supper 
was  ordered,  and  five  or  six  Republican  members  of 
the  club  who  chanced  to  be  in  the  building  were 
invited  in.  The  supper  was  informal — as  informal 
as  anything  could  be;  the  conversation  was  easy  and 
familiar;  the  prospects  of  the  Republican  party 
in  the  coming  struggle  were  talked  over,  and  so 
little  was  it  supposed  by  the  gentlemen  who  had 
not  heard  the  address  that  Mr.  Lincoln  could  possibly 
be  the  candidate  that  one  of  them,  Mr.  Charles  W. 
Eliott,  asked,  artlessly:  "Mr.  Lincoln,  what  candi 
date  do  you  really  think  would  be  most  likely  to  carry 
Illinois  ?  "  Mr .  Lincoln  answered  by  illustration :  ' '  Illi 
nois  is  a  peculiar  State,  in  three  parts.  In  northern 
Illinois,  Mr.  Seward  would  have  a  larger  majority 
than  I  could  get.  In  middle  Illinois,  I  think  I  could 
call  out  a  larger  vote  than  Mr.  Seward.  In  southern 
Illinois,  it  would  make  no  difference  who  was  the 
candidate."  This  answer  was  taken  to  be  merely 
illustrative  by  everybody  except,  perhaps,  Mr. 
Barney  and  Mr.  Nott,  each  of  whom,  it  subsequently 
appeared,  had  particularly  noted  Mr.  Lincoln's  reply. 

The  little  party  broke  up.  Mr.  Lincoln  had  been 
cordially  received,  but  certainly  had  not  been  flattered. 


252  Abraham  Lincoln 

The  others  shook  him  by  the  han'd  and,  as  they  put 
on  their  overcoats,  said:  "Mr.  Nott  is  going  down 
town  and  he  will  show  you  the  way  to  the  Astor 
House."  Mr.  Lincoln  and  Mr.  Nott  started  on  foot, 
but  the  latter  observing  that  Mr.  Lincoln  was  appar 
ently  walking  with  some  difficulty  said,  "Are  you  lame, 
Mr.  Lincoln?"  He  replied  that  he  had  on  new  boots 
and  they  hurt  him.  The  two  gentlemen  then  boarded 
a  street  car.  When  they  reached  the  place  where  Mr. 
Nott  would  leave  the  car  on  his  way  home,  he  shook 
Mr.  Lincoln  by  the  hand  and,  bidding  him  good-bye, 
told  him  that  this  car  would  carry  him  to  the  side 
door  of  the  Astor  House.  Mr.  Lincoln  went  on  alone, 
the  only  occupant  of  the  car.  The  next  time  he  came 
to  New  York,  he  rode  down  Broadway  to  the  Astor 
House  standing  erect  in  an  open  barouche  drawn  by 
four  white  horses.  He  bowed  to  the  patriotic  thou 
sands  in  the  street,  on  the  sidewalks,  in  the  windows, 
on  the  house-tops,  and  they  cheered  him  as  the  law 
fully  elected  President  of  the  United  States  and 
bade  him  go  on  and,  with  God's  help,  save  the 
Union. 

His  companion  in  the  street  car  has  often  wondered 
since  then  what  Mr.  Lincoln  thought  about  during  the 
remainder  of  his  ride  that  night  to  the  Astor  House. 
The  Cooper  Institute  had,  owing  to  a  snow-storm, 
not  been  full,  and  its  intelligent,  respectable,  non- 
partisan  audience  had  not  rung  out  enthusiastic 
applause  like  a  concourse  of  Western  auditors  magnet- 


The  Cooper  Institute  Speech     253 

ized  by  their  own  enthusiasm.  Had  the  address — 
the  most  carefully  prepared,  the  most  elaborately 
investigated  and  demonstrated  and  verified  of  all 
the  work  of  his  life — been  a  failure?  But  in  the 
matter  of  quality  and  ability,  if  not  of  quantity  and 
enthusiasm,  he  had  never  addressed  such  an  audience; 
and  some  of  the  ablest  men  in  the  Northern  States 
had  expressed  their  opinion  of  the  address  in  terms 
which  left  no  doubt  of  the  highest  appreciation.  Did 
Mr.  Lincoln  regard  the  address  which  he  had  just  de 
livered  to  a  small  and  critical  audience  as  a  success? 
Did  he  have  the  faintest  glimmer  of  the  brilliant  effect 
which  was  to  follow?  Did  he  feel  the  loneliness  of 
the  situation — the  want  of  his  loyal  Illinois  adherents? 
Did  his  sinking  heart  infer  that  he  was  but  a  speck 
of  humanity  to  which  the  great  city  would  never 
again  give  a  thought?  He  was  a  plain  man,  an 
ungainly  man;  unadorned,  apparently  uncultivated, 
showing  the  awkwardness  of  self-conscious  rusticity. 
His  dress  that  night  before  a  New  York  audience  was 
the  most  unbecoming  that  a  fiend's  ingenuity  could 
have  devised  for  a  tall,  gaunt  man — a  black  frock 
coat,  ill-setting  and  too  short  for  him  in  the  body, 
skirt,  and  arms — a  rolling  collar,  low-down,  dis 
closing  his  long  thin,  shrivelled  throat  uncovered 
and  exposed.  No  man  in  all  New  York  appeared  that 
night  more  simple,  more  unassuming,  more  modest, 
more  unpretentious,  more  conscious  of  his  own 
defects  than  Abraham  Lincoln ;  and  yet  we  now  know 


254  Abraham  Lincoln 

that  within  his  soul  there  burned  the  fires  of  an 
unbounded  ambition,  sustained  by  a  self-reliance 
and  self-esteem  that  bade  him  fix  his  gaze  upon  the 
very  pinnacle  of  American  fame  and  aspire  to  it  in  a 
time  so  troubled  that  its  dangers  appalled  the  soul 
of  every  American.  What  were  this  man's  thoughts 
when  he  was  left  alone?  Did  a  faint  shadow  of  the 
future  rest  upon  his  soul?  Did  he  feel  in  some 
mysterious  way  that  on  that  night  he  had  crossed 
the  Rubicon  of  his  life-march — that  care  and  trouble 
and  political  discord,  and  slander  and  misrepresenta 
tion  and  ridicule  and  public  responsibilities,  such  as 
hardly  ever  before  burdened  a  conscientious  soul, 
coupled  with  war  and  defeat  and  disaster,  were  to  be 
thenceforth  his  portion  nearly  to  his  life's  end,  and 
that  his  end  was  to  be  a  bloody  act  which  would 
appall  the  world  and  send  a  thrill  of  horror  through  the 
hearts  of  friends  and  enemies  alike,  so  that  when  the 
woeful  tidings  came  the  bravest  of  the  Southern 
brave  should  burst  into  tears  and  cry  aloud,  "Oh! 
the  unhappy  South,  the  unhappy  South!" 

The  impression  left  on  his  companion's  mind  as  he 
gave  a  last  glance  at  him  in  the  street  car  was  that  he 
seemed  sad  and  lonely;  and  when  it  was  too  late, 
when  the  car  was  beyond  call,  he  blamed  himself 
for  not  accompanying  Mr.  Lincoln  to  the  Astor 
House — not  because  he  was  a  distinguished  stranger, 
but  because  he  seemed  a  sad  and  lonely 
man. 


The  Cooper  Institute  Speech     255 

Following  this  retrospect  of  Mr.  Nott's  of  the 
events  and  scenes  of  February  27,  1860,  written 
by  him  in  1908,  I  wish  to  go  back  to  events  that 
occurred  in  the  spring  of  1860.  The  most  com 
prehensive  and  appreciative  presentation  of  facts 
regarding  this  Cooper  Institute  speech  ever  pub 
lished,  was  that  issued  by  the  "Young  Men's 
Republican  Union,"  of  New  York  City,  in 
September,  1860.  This  organization  in  May  of 
that  year  had  decided  to  publish  a  revised  edition 
for  general  campaign  distribution,  preceding  the 
presidential  election.  They  wished  this  reprint  to 
have  such  historical  and  analytical  notes  as  would 
authenticate  the  statements  and  principles  Lincoln 
had  presented  in  the  speech. 

With  this  in  view  they  wrote  Lincoln  for  the 
notes  and  references  he  had  collated  in  its  prepara 
tion.  Lincoln  replied  he  had  not  preserved  such 
memoranda  as  he  had  used  at  the  time,  and  that 
he  was  then  too  busy  to  re-examine  the  authorities 
again.  The  facts  connected  with  this  correspon 
dence  can  be  best  understood  and  appreciated 
by  giving  the  following  letters  that  were  exchanged 
between  Mr.  Charles  C.  Nott  and  Lincoln  dated 
May  23,  31,  1860,  respectively. 

These  letters  show  the  appreciation  of  this 
speech  by  Eastern  Republicans  so  soon  after  its 


256  Abraham  Lincoln 

delivery.  Lincoln's  reply  is  even  more  interesting, 
for  it  indicates  the  maturity  and  independence  of 
his  thoughts  on  the  political  issues  then  distract 
ing  the  country.  It  shows  at  that  early  date 
that  he  had  a  masterful  self-confidence  in  his 
political  opinions  and  his  own  method  of  expressing 
them.  He  was  unwilling  to  have  any  corrections, 
from  even  his  scholarly  Eastern  friends,  "that 
would  change  the  sense,  or  modify  to  a  hair's 
breadth, "  what  he  had  said  before  them  that  night 
of  February  27,  1860.  It  will  be  recalled  that 
Lincoln  wrote  this  reply  to  the  New  York  Republi 
can  Club  only  seventeen  days  before  the  National 
Republican  Convention  met  in  Chicago  that 
nominated  him  as  their  candidate  for  President. 
These  letters  are  as  follows: 

69  WALL  ST.,  NEW  YORK, 
May  23,  i860. 

DEAR  SIR: 

I  enclose  a  copy  of  your  address  in  New  York. 

We  (the  Young  Men's  Rep.  Union)  design  to  publish 
a  new  edition  in  larger  type  and  better  form,  with  such 
notes  and  references  as  will  best  attract  readers  seeking 
information.  Have  you  any  memoranda  of  your  in 
vestigations  which  you  would  approve  of  inserting? 

You  and  your  Western  friends,  I  think,  underrate 
this  speech.  It  has  produced  a  greater  effect  here  than 


The  Cooper  Institute  Speech     257 

any  other  single  speech.  It  is  the  real  platform  in  the 
Eastern  States,  and  must  carry  the  conservative  ele 
ment  in  New  York,  New  Jersey,  and  Pennsylvania. 

Therefore  I  desire  that  it  should  be  as  nearly  perfect 
as  may  be.  Most  of  the  emendations  are  trivial 
and  do  not  affect  the  substance — all  are  merely  sug 
gested  for  your  judgment. 

I  cannot  help  adding  that  this  speech  is  an  extra 
ordinary  example  of  condensed  English.  After  some 
experience  in  criticising  for  Reviews,  I  find  hardly  any 
thing  to  touch  and  nothing  to  omit.  It  is  the  only  one 
I  know  of  which  I  cannot  shorten  and — like  a  good  arch 
— moving  one  word  tumbles  a  whole  sentence  down. 

Finally — it  being  a  bad  and  foolish  thing  for  a 
candidate  to  write  letters,  and  you  having  doubtless 
more  to  do  of  that  than  is  pleasant  or  profitable,  we 
will  not  add  to  your  burden  in  that  regard,  but  if  you 
will  let  any  friend  who  has  nothing  to  do,  advise 
us  as  to  your  wishes,  in  this  or  any  other  matter,  we 
will  try  to  carry  them  out. 

Respectfully, 

CHARLES  C.  NOTT. 

To  HON.  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

SPRINGFIELD,  ILLS.,  May  31,  1860. 
Charles  C.  Nott,  Esq. 
MY  DEAR  SIR: 

Yours  of  the  23d,  accompanied  by  a  copy  of  the 
speech  delivered  by  me  at  the  Cooper  Institute,  and 
17 


258  Abraham  Lincoln 

^ 

upon  which  you  have  made  some  notes  for  emenda 
tions,  was  received  some  days  ago —  Of  course  I  would 
not  object  to,  but  would  be  pleased  rather,  with  a  more 
perfect  edition  of  that  speech. 

I  did  not  preserve  memoranda  of  my  investigations ; 
and  I  could  not  now  re-examine,  and  make  notes, 
without  an  expenditure  of  time  which  I  cannot  bestow 
upon  it — some  of  your  notes  I  do  not  understand. 

So  far  as  it  is  intended  merely  to  improve  in  gram 
mar,  and  elegance  of  composition,  I  am  quite  agreed; 
but  I  do  not  wish  the  sense  changed,  or  modified, 
to  a  hair's  breadth —  And  you,  not  having  studied 
the  particular  points  so  closely  as  I  have,  can  not  be 
quite  sure  that  you  do  not  change  the  sense  when  you 
do  not  intend  it —  For  instance,  in  a  note  at  bottom 
of  first  page,  you  propose  to  substitute  "  Democrats  " 
for  "Douglas" —  But  what  I  am  saying  there  is  true 
of  Douglas,  and  is  not  true  of  " Democrats"  generally; 
so  that  the  proposed  substitution  would  be  a  very 
considerable  blunder —  Your  proposed  insertion  of 
"residences"  though  it  would  do  little  or  no  harm, 
is  not  at  all  necessary  to  the  sense  I  was  trying  to 
convey —  On  page  5  your  proposed  grammatical 
change  would  certainly  do  no  harm —  The ' '  impudently 
absurd ' '  I  stick  to —  The  striking  out ' '  he  "  and  insert 
ing  "  we  "  turns  the  sense  exactly  wrong —  The  striking 
out  "upon  it"  leaves  the  sense  too  general  and  in 
complete —  The  sense  is  "act  as  they  acted  upon  that 
question" — not  as  they  acted  generally. 


The  Cooper  Institute  Speech     259 

After  considering  your  proposed  changes  on  page 
7,  I  do  not  think  them  material,  but  I  am  willing 
to  defer  to  you  in  relation  to  them. 

On  page  9,  striking  out  "to  us"  is  probably  right — 
The  word  "lawyer's"  I  wish  retained.  The  word 
"  Courts"  struck  out  twice,  I  wish  reduced  to  "Court" 
and  retained — "Court"  as  a  collection  more  properly 
governs  the  plural ' '  have  "  as  I  understand —  ' '  The ' ' 
preceding  "Court,"  in  the  latter  case,  must  also  be 
retained—  The  words  "quite,"  "as,"  and  "or" 
on  the  same  page,  I  wish  retained.  The  italicising, 
and  quotation  marking,  I  have  no  objection  to. 

As  to  the  note  at  bottom,  I  do  not  think  any  too 
much  is  admitted —  What  you  propose  on  page  1 1  is 
right —  I  return  your  copy  of  the  speech,  together 
with  one  printed  here,  under  my  own  hasty  super 
vising.  That  at  New  York  was  printed  without  any 
supervision  by  me —  If  you  conclude  to  publish  a 
new  edition,  allow  me  to  see  the  proof-sheets. 

And  now  thanking  you  for  your  very  complimentary 
letter,  and  your  interest  for  me  generally,  I  subscribe 
myself. 

Your  friend  and  servant. 
A  LINCOLN. 

Nothing  discouraged  by  failing  to  get  Lincoln's 
notes  for  the  reprint,  Messrs.  Charles  C.  Nott  and 
Cephas  Brainerd  undertook  and  prepared  an 
appendix  consisting  of  thirty-eight  historical 


260  Abraham  Lincoln 

00 

and  analytical  notes.  These  were  so  full  that 
they  covered  nearly  as  many  pages  as  the  re 
printed  speech.  The  labour  incident  to  this 
corroborates  the  mention  I  have  made  of  the 
time  and  care  Lincoln  bestowed  in  collating 
the  facts  and  historical  data  he  elaborated  his 
speech  from.  As  late  as  August  18,  1909,  Mr. 
Cephas  Brainerd,  who  assisted  Mr.  Nott  in  making 
the  reference  notes,  writes  that  in  doing  this, 
they  "ransacked  all  the  materials  available  in 
the  libraries  of  New  York,  and  also,  had  interviews 
with  Mr.  Bancroft  and  Mr.  Hildreth  and  Mr. 
Goodell,  who  was  in  those  times  a  famous  anti- 
slavery  man."  This  reprint  edition  with  their 
notes  appeared  in  September,  1860,  and  the 
committee  sent  Lincoln  two  hundred  and  fifty 
copies,  promising  to  send  him  as  many  more  as 
he  might  wish.  The  preface  to  this  annotated 
edition  by  the  eminent  and  scholarly  gentlemen 
who  edited  it,  is  worth  reproducing  here  as  an 
expression  of  their  estimate  of  the  labour  Lincoln 
had  bestowed  in  its  preparation  and  the  masterful 
assemblage  his  logical  argument  had  given  to  his 
historical  citations.  Their  preface  was  as  follows : 

This  edition  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  address  has  been  pre 
pared  and  published  by  the  Young  Men's  Republican 
Union  of  New  York,  to  exemplify  its  wisdom,  truth- 


The  Cooper  Institute  Speech     261 

fulness,  and  learning.  No  one  who  has  not  actually  at 
tempted  to  verify  its  details  can  understand  the  patient 
research  and  historical  labour  which  it  embodies.  The 
history  of  our  earlier  politics  is  scattered  through 
numerous  journals,  statutes,  pamphlets,  and  letters; 
and  these  are  defective  in  completeness  and  accuracy 
of  statement,  and  in  indices  and  tables  of  contents. 
Neither  can  any  one  who  has  not  travelled  over  this 
precise  ground  appreciate  the  accuracy  of  every  trivial 
detail,  or  the  self-denying  impartiality  with  which 
Mr.  Lincoln  has  turned  from  the  testimony  of  "the 
Fathers,"  on  the  general  question  of  slavery,  to 
present  the  single  question  which  he  discusses.  From 
the  first  line  to  the  last — from  his  premises  to  his 
conclusion,  he  travels  with  swift,  unerring  directness 
which  no  logician  ever  excelled — an  argument  com 
plete  and  full,  without  the  affectation  of  learning, 
and  without  the  stiffness  which  usually  accompanies 
dates  and  details.  A  single,  easy,  simple  sentence  of 
plain  Anglo-Saxon  words  contains  a  chapter  of  history 
that,  in  some  instances,  has  taken  days  of  labour  to 
verify  and  which  must  have  cost  the  author  months 
of  investigation  to  acquire.  And,  though  the  public 
should  justly  estimate  the  labour  bestowed  on  the 
facts  which  are  stated,  they  cannot  estimate  the 
greater  labour  involved  on  those  which  are  omitted — 
how  many  pages  have  been  read — how  many  works 
examined — what  numerous  statutes,  resolutions, 
speeches,  letters,  and  biographies  have  been  looked 


262  Abraham  Lincoln 

through.  Commencing  with  this  address  as  a  political 
pamphlet,  the  reader  will  leave  it  as  an  historical 
work — brief,  complete,  profound,  impartial,  truthful 
— which  will  survive  the  time  and  the  occasion  that 
called  it  forth,  and  be  esteemed  hereafter,  no  less 
for  its  intrinsic  worth  than  its  unpretending  modesty. 
NEW  YORK,  September,  1860. 

Lincoln's  temperament  was  a  placid  one,  free 
from  extreme  tendencies.  His  associates  and  his 
education  at  Salem,  and  also  with  both  Stuart  and 
Logan,  had  been  of  the  most  conservative  char 
acter.  He  was  in  those  earlier  years  a  well- 
established  Henry  Clay  Whig  of  the  olden  school. 
The  radical  abolition  and  free-soil  literature,  which 
Mr.  Herndon  had  supplied  so  liberally,  brought 
for  the  first  time  strongly  before  Lincoln  that  side 
of  the  slavery  question.  It  illustrates  the  unusual 
fairness  of  his  mind  that  he  was  not  satisfied  with 
these  views  alone,  but  consulted  those  of  Southern 
authors  as  well,  that  he  might  thus  pass  both 
sides  in  review  while  studying  the  whole  country's 
political  differences.  This  thorough  study  by 
Lincoln  is  revealed  in  the  Cooper  Institute  speech 
and  therein  was  its  convincing  strength. 

It  was  only  through  such  processes  of  thought 
about  the  peculiar  events  rapidly  transpiring 
that  he  arrived  at  his  later  conviction  that  there 


The  Cooper  Institute  Speech     263 

was  a  Southern  slave-holding  oligarchy  with  its 
views  so  intimately  woven  into  the  texture  of 
Calhoun's  doctrine  of  State  rights,  that  both 
together  must  be  throttled,  or  the  Union  of  the 
States  would  be  broken  up.  The  Southern 
people,  through  their  own  political  literature, 
were  Lincoln's  instructors  as  to  their  policies 
and  how  they  expected  to  carry  them  out. 
By  their  own  political  leaders  and  representa 
tive  men  and  women,  so  far  as  their  views 
were  publicly  expressed  in  their  home  papers 
after  1850,  he  had  been  keeping  constantly 
informed. 

Besides  all  this,  Lincoln  while  in  Congress, 
had  made  the  acquaintance  with,  and  had  great 
confidence  in  and  affection  for,  many  Border 
State  men  and  several  from  the  Gulf  States,  long 
before  the  strife  of  the  Civil  War  sundered  his  life 
work  from  theirs.  Nor  did  he,  after  this  period, 
fail  to  estimate  fairly  the  whole  Southern  people 
and  their  view-point  of  national  affairs,  whether 
before,  during,  or  after  the  fierce  conflict  had 
reached  its  exhausting  end.  His  first  inaugural 
voiced  those  broad  national  conceptions  of  policy; 
though  North  and  South  could  not  then  read  and 
interpret  or  appreciate  its  plain  utterances  aright, 
much  less  see  the  latent  intensity  of  feeling  and 


264  Abraham  Lincoln 

love  that  in  later  years  are  now  discovered  between 
the  lines  of  that  remarkable  address. 

The  Southern  people  had  not  in  all  the  world  a 
friend  whose  life  was  worth  so  much  to  them  as 
was  Abraham  Lincoln's  the  night  that  misguided 
partisan  sent  the  fatal  bullet  which  stilled  forever 
his  just  and  generous  heart. 


What  Religion  Meant  to  Abraham 
Lincoln 


265 


"I  have  never  united  myself  to  any  church,  because 
I  have  found  difficulty  in  giving  my  assent,  without 
mental  reservation,  to  the  long,  complicated  state 
ments  of  Christian  doctrine  which  characterize  their 
Articles  of  Belief  and  Confession  of  Faith.  When 
any  church  will  inscribe  over  its  altar,  as  its  sole 
qualification  for  membership,  the  Saviour's  condensed 
statement  of  the  substance  of  the  Gospel,  'Thou 
shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and 
with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind,  and  thy 
neighbour  as  thyself, '  that  church  will  I  join  with  all 
my  heart  and  all  my  soul." 
The  Inner  Life  of  Lincoln,  1868,  by  F.  B.  CARPENTER. 


266 


XIV 

WHAT     RELIGION     MEANT     TO     ABRAHAM     LINCOLN 

OF  all  things  in  and  around  New  Salem,  from 
its  earliest  to  its  latest  days,  there  was  nothing 
about  the  little  village  that  existed  in  forms  and 
opinions  more  crude  and  vague  than  its  religion. 
For  the  most  part  its  inhabitants  had  no  religion 
to  speak  of,  in  the  conventional  sense  of  the  word. 
In  the  case  of  any  who  had  held  church  member 
ship  elsewhere,  the  relation  had  lapsed  with  their 
removal  to  a  community  that  had  no  church. 
Yet  perhaps  no  other  hamlet  so  small  and  short 
lived  as  New  Salern  has  ever  had  a  citizen  whose 
religion  has  been  more  discussed. 

The  people  of  New  Salem  and  its  vicinity  were  a 
plain  and  industrious  folk.  Their  material  needs 
were  indeed  few  as  compared  with  ours ;  yet  they  re 
quired  a  diligence  in  their  daily  labours  to  provide 
for  these  necessities  that  absorbed  their  time  and 
interest  to  such  an  extent  as  only  those  can  ap 
preciate  who  know  the  hardship,  toil,  and  exposure 

endured  by  the  early  settlers  and  their  families. 

267 


268  Abraham  Lincoln 

Hither  came  Abraham  Lincoln,  April  19,  1831. 
Here  he  spent  most  of  his  next  seven  years  amid 
various  surroundings  and  associations  which  be 
came  formative  and  controlling  influences  in  his 
life.  It  is  important  to  estimate  correctly  and  to 
recognize  the  work  he  did  there;  the  men  with 
whom  he  there  measured  muscle  and  mind;  the 
women  whom  he  respected  and  those  he  admired, 
and  one  he  loved.  Those  were  important  years 
that  he  spent  there  with  his  interests  centred  in 
and  about  this  primitive  little  hamlet.  Important 
they  were  to  him,  as  we  have  seen ;  important  also 
to  New  Salem,  for  with  his  departure  its  glory 
also  departed. 

Salem  soon  ceased  to  be  a  neighbourhood  centre, 
and  its  people  were  scattered.  One  by  one  the 
buildings  were  moved  away,  leaving  nothing 
familiar  but  the  blue  sky  above  and  the  hill  on 
which  the  houses  had  stood,  washed  then  as  now 
by  the  sluggish  Sangamon.  Gone,  too,  at  length, 
are  the  old  mill-dam  that  obstructed  the  current 
of  the  river,  and  the  old  mill  that  still  stood  on  the 
bank  for  many  years  after  the  village  had  vanished, 
and  the  rumbling  of  whose  whirring  stone  burrs, 
grinding  grain  for  later  settlers,  might  be  heard 
a  mile  or  more  up  and  down  the  river's  timbered 
bluffs.  How  distinct  those  echoes  come  back 


What  Religion  Meant  to  Lincoln  269 

in  memory  as  I  write,  recalling  many  delightful 
Saturday  afternoons  spent  there  ofttimes  alone 
with  rod  and  line!  How  exultantly  the  barefoot 
boy  trudged  home  after  sunset  with  his  "catch," 
to  meet  therefor  the  welcome  and  the  praise  of  a 
then  unbroken  family  circle,  of  which  now  I  alone 
remain! 

In  a  chapter  intended  to  tell  something  about 
what  religion  meant  to  Abraham  Lincoln,  the 
influences  of  New  Salem  should  always  be  given 
a  prominent  place.  For  fifty  years  the  chroniclers 
have  been  busy  recording  a  mass  of  fact  and 
fiction  relating  to  Lincoln's  seven  years'  residence 
there;  and  in  no  other  direction  is  the  mingling 
of  fact  and  fiction  more  in  evidence  than  in 
relation  to  his  religious  faith  during  those  seven 
years.  Much  of  this  record  has  come  to  us  at 
second  or  third  hand,  distorted  by  the  lapse  of 
time  and  repeated  narration,  and  even  the  worse 
confusion  of  preconceived  notions  and  biased 
opinions  of  some  of  the  writers. 

The  charge  of  infidelity  was  originated  and  cir 
culated  by  Lincoln's  political  foes.  It  has  come 
down  to  us  in  the  record  of  that  intensely  hot 
Congressional  campaign  of  1846  in  which  Lincoln's 
opponent  was  the  famous  though  eccentric 


270  Abraham  Lincoln 

4) 

Methodist  pioneer  preacher,  Peter  Cartwright.  It 
was  one  of  the  personalities  that  arose  out  of  an 
unusually  bitter  and  personal  political  campaign. 
The  circumstances  upon  which  the  charge  was 
based  dated  back  fifteen  years  before  the  campaign 
in  which  it  was  used  to  discredit  and  defeat  him. 
In  order  to  determine  the  measure  of  credence 
that  this  story  deserves,  it  is  necessary  to  consider 
the  characteristics  of  several  residents  of  New 
Salem  and  vicinity  who  were  familiar  with  the 
events  of  those  seven  years.  More  especially  is  it 
important  to  inquire  into  the  burning,  by  Samuel 
Hill,  of  a  mysterious  manuscript  said  to  have  been 
an  infidel  production  written  by  Abraham  Lincoln. 
These  charges,  which  I  shall  attempt  to  sift 
for  the  few  grains  of  truth  that  they  may  contain, 
were  trivial  matters  at  the  time.  It  was  never 
supposed  that  they  would  be  exploited  as  historic 
evidence  to  the  discredit  of  Lincoln.  Had  the 
political  enemies  who  first  circulated  this  charge 
in  1846  anticipated  that  the  campaign  canard, 
"The  Infidelity  of  Lincoln, "  would  attain  a  world 
wide  currency  to  the  damage  of  his  reputation, 
they  would  never  have  set  it  afloat.  This  admis 
sion  I  had  from  Cartwright  himself  as  late  as  1862, 
when  he  described  the  incident  at  a  dinner  party 
given  him  by  James  Harper  that  year  in  New 


What  Religion  Meant  to  Lincoln  271 

York    City.     Cartwright's    statement    regarding 
this  matter  will  appear  a  little  farther  on. 

Reverting  to  the  seven  years  of  Abraham  Lin 
coln's  life  spent  at  New  Salem,  we  find  them  full  of 
contradictory  view-points  from  which  he  observed 
his  fellow  men.  In  his  discussions  on  various 
subjects  with  all  classes  of  people,  he  showed  a 
respect  for  their  peculiar  views  and  often  adjusted 
himself  with  much  skill  to  meet  their  arguments, 
as  the  trend  of  the  discussion  might  require. 
For  this  reason  it  would  be  extremely  difficult 
by  traversing  all  his  expressions  of  opinion  to 
trace  out  and  define  in  a  consistent  manner 
Lincoln's  religious  faith,  along  moral,  spiritual, 
or  ethical  lines,  in  harmony  with  conventional 
forms  or  sectarian  dogmas. 

There  is  no  small  element  of  human  personality 
and  of  our  human  nature  mixed  up  with  the  reli 
gious  opinions  of  most  of  us.  This  may  be  observed 
even  among  Christ's  twelve  chosen  disciples, 
though  dwelling  in  the  celestial  light  of  the 
Master's  own  teaching.  Lincoln  was  no  exception 
in  this  respect;  and  the  Salem  atmosphere  was 
one  not  especially  filled  with  celestial  light.  The 
essentials  of  his  religious  belief,  that  so  largely 
formed  and  controlled  his  ideals  and  actions,  were 


272  Abraham  Lincoln 

modified  far  more  than  is  usually  the  case  by  the 
sympathy  of  his  nature  and  by  the  experiences 
and  responsibilities  of  his  life  through  which  he 
passed  from  time  to  time.  The  assumption 
that  Lincoln's  opinion  on  any  subject  at  any 
particular  time  was  thenceforth  fixed  and  un 
changeable  is  contrary  to  recognized  facts  of 
history.  It  must  be  evident  that  with  such  de 
liberate  habits  of  thought  and  painstaking  care 
in  reaching  conclusions,  no  radical  departure 
from  the  fundamental  beliefs  amid  which  Lincoln 
had  lived  from  his  youth  up  to  his  twenty-third 
year  could  have  occurred  so  rapidly  as  some  claim 
that  he  experienced  at  Salem.  To  render  such  a 
claim  deserving  of  acceptance,  it  must  be  supported 
by  convincing  proof.  This  is  certainly  lacking 
so  far  as  the  evidence  from  his  life  at  Salem  is 
concerned . 

After  his  removal  to  Springfield,  and  finally 
to  Washington,  on  until  the  mortal  part  of  our 
First  American  was  brought  home  to  Springfield 
and  laid  in  its  last  resting-place  among  us,  his 
addresses  and  state  papers  bear  on  their  pages 
such  direct  evidence  of  what  religion  meant  to 
Abraham  Lincoln  that  to  deny  its  presence  and 
significance  there,  and  in  the  soul  of  him  who 
delivered  them,  would  be  as  unreasonable  as  to 


What  Religion  Meant  to  Lincoln  273 

deny  the  existence  of  a  sun  in  the  heavens  at 
noonday. 

After  the  Congressional  campaign  of  1846,  when 
this  charge  of  infidelity  was  first  made,  nothing 
more  was  heard  of  it  again  until  1870, — five  years 
after  Lincoln's  death.  For  nineteen  years  after 
this  charge  was  first  made,  Lincoln  had  been  a  most 
prominent  figure  in  political  life.  He  had  been 
subjected  to  all  sorts  of  criticisms,  political  and 
personal,  in  public  addresses,  in  newspaper  articles 
and  caricatures,  beyond  any  other  man  of  his 
time.  His  entire  record  was  scrutinized,  and 
every  act  or  opinion  of  his  past  life  that  could  be 
used  against  him  with  any  semblance  of  truth 
was  used  by  his  vindictive  foes  to  discredit  him 
before  the  country. 

When  Douglas,  in  the  Senatorial  campaign,  of 
1858,  in  one  of  his  speeches  referred  to  Lincoln's 
past  and  his  occupation,  when  he  first  met  him, 
as  being  "a  grocery  keeper  dispensing  drinks," 
had  it  been  possible  for  him  to  have  added  the 
slur  of  "infidel"  he  certainly  would  have  done  so. 
Douglas  was  thoroughly  familiar  with  his  habits 
and  opinions  at  Salem  and  Springfield  up  to  the 
time  of  those  debates.  He  omitted  nothing  that 
he  could  then  urge  against  Lincoln  to  impair 
his  reputation  before  the  public.  The  epithet 


18 


274  Abraham  Lincoln 

"infidel"  if  successfully  applied  to  a  candidate 
aspiring  to  Senatorial  honours  in  Illinois  in  1858 
would  have  been  as  demoralizing  to  his  support 
ers  as  the  cry  of  "Fire!"  at  the  midnight  hour. 
Douglas  never  once,  in  public  or  private,  referred 
to  this  political  canard  of  the  Congressional  cam 
paign  of  1846.  Long  before  that  remote  date, 
it  had  failed  because  it  was  unsupported  by  facts. 
It  had  gone  down  under  the  defeat  of  Cartwright 
in  that  election  by  the  largest  majority  ever  re 
corded  in  that  Congressional  district  for  a  Whig 
candidate.  • 

I  am  able  to  add  Cartwright's  own  later  testi 
mony  as  to  the  falsity  of  this  charge  of  infidelity. 
In  the  winter  of  1862  Cartwright  visited  the  East, 
addressing  large  audiences  in  many  of  the  large 
cities.  After  his  return  he  spent  several  days  with 
my  parents,  and  I  shall  repeat  here  the  account 
he  then  gave  us  of  a  dinner  party  given  in  his 
honour  by  James  Harper,  the  senior  member  of  the 
Harper  publishing  firm  in  New  York.  While 
the  time  of  this  visit  was  considerably  later  than 
the  Salem  incident  of  which  this  chapter  treats, 
it  is  yet  so  pertinent  to  the  charge  of  "infidelity" 
made  in  1846  that  I  introduce  it  here  in  connec 
tion  with  that  earlier  date. 


What  Religion  Meant  to  Lincoln  275 

Cartwright  said  that  for  some  reason  which  he 
never  could  understand,  the  Eastern  people  of  the 
business  and  literary  classes  were  always  anxious 
to  meet  him.  This  company  at  the  Harper  recep 
tion  and  dinner  party  was  composed,  he  said,  of 
representative  merchants,  bankers,  lawyers,  and  a 
few  ministers.  The  ministers  seemed  less  desirous 
of  meeting  him  than  were  the  others.  He  said 
that  they  met  at  an  hour  earlier  than  usual  for 
such  functions  because  he  had  previously  made  an 
engagement  with  a  Brooklyn  pastor  to  address  a 
meeting  for  him  at  8:30  the  same  evening,  and 
he  had  accepted  Mr.  Harper's  invitation  subject 
to  this  earlier  engagement.  Cartwright  said  that 
he  "felt  like  a  cat  in  a  strange  garret"  on  meeting 
so  many  celebrated  men  for  the  first  time.  When 
he  was  introduced  by  Mr.  Harper  to  the  guests 
he  said  he  was  "all  doubled  up,"  but  (using  a 
favourite  expression  when  endeavouring  to  be 
cautious  and  conventional)  that  he  "poised  him 
self"  so  as  not  to  reflect  discredit  upon  his  back 
woods  raising.  How  poorly  he  kept  his  "poise" 
will  shortly  appear. 

He  said  he  had  hoped  to  play  the  inconspicuous 
part  of  a  quiet  listener  among  these  eminent  men 
whom  he  regarded  as  vastly  his  superiors.  In 
stead,  for  an  hour  or  more,  he  was  forced  to  take 


276  Abraham  Lincoln 

• 

the  most  prominent  part,  answering  their  ques 
tions  concerning  frontier  life,  his  experiences  as  a 
preacher  at  camp  meeting,  and  on  other  occasions 
among  the  rough  characters  of  the  Far  West.  At 
length  he  succeeded,  he  said,  in  directing  the  con 
versation  to  the  sad  condition  of  national  affairs. 
Having  then  succeeded  in  diverting  attention 
from  himself,  he  lapsed  into  silence  in  order  that 
he  might  learn  the  attitude  of  such  a  representa 
tive  company  of  New  York  men  toward  Abraham 
Lincoln  and  his  efforts  along  civil  and  military 
lines  to  crush  the  rebellion.  He  knew  how  seri 
ously  the  loss  of  Southern  trade  had  affected 
the  business  of  some  of  the  guests ;  and  he  expected 
to  find  their  sympathies  were  influenced  by  this 
condition  of  their  pocket-books.  But  he  did  not 
expect  to  find  anyone  there  whose  sympathies  were 
strongly  with  the  Southern  Confederacy. 

To  Cart wright's  great  surprise  he  heard  nothing 
but  criticisms  of  President  Lincoln's  course  since 
his  inauguration,  and  the  Northern  policy  of 
prosecuting  the  war  for  preserving  the  integrity 
of  the  Union  by  force  of  arms.  The  opinions 
expressed  by  the  gentlemen  present  reflected 
either  their  entire  approval  of  Jefferson  Davis 
and  the  action  of  the  Confederate  States  in  seced 
ing  from  the  Union,  and  glorifying  their  military 


What  Religion  Meant  to  Lincoln  277 

prowess;  or  the  milder  view  of  "anything  for 
peace,"  and  a  compromise  guaranteeing  whatever 
conditions  the  South  might  demand.  "The  con 
sciences  of  the  entire  crowd,"  said  Cartwright — 
to  use  his  exact  words — "were  choked  with  cotton 
and  cankered  with  gold."  He  said  that  he  had 
never  felt  his  blood  so  hot  with  indignation  as  it 
was  while  sitting  there  as  the  guest  of  honour 
and  listening  to  such  conversation.  He  waited 
in  vain  to  hear  some  one  speak  in  defence  of  the 
use  of  force  for  preserving  the  Union  of  the  States, 
or  in  appreciation  of  the  stupendous  efforts  then 
being  made  by  President  Lincoln  and  the  Congress 
at  Washington  to  enable  the  army  and  navy  to 
crush  out  the  rebellion. 

Looking  at  his  watch  he  saw  that  it  was  nearly 
time  for  him  to  be  on  his  way  to  Brooklyn.  Still 
holding  his  watch  in  his  hand,  he  addressed  Mr. 
Harper,  asking  to  be  excused,  since,  making  allow 
ance  for  delays  in  transit,  he  had  only  sufficient 
time  to  meet  his  appointment  in  Brooklyn.  Mr. 
Harper  protested:  "No,  no,  Father  Cartwright, 
not  until  after  the  next  course,  which  is  the  best 
and  rarest  to  be  served,  and  it  was  procured  spe 
cially  to  give  you  a  surprise  and  to  honour  your 
presence  with  us  tonight."  Cartwright  enquired 
what  it  was;  and  when  told  by  Mr.  Harper  that 


278  Abraham  Lincoln 

it  was  prairie  chicken  from  the  prairies  of  Iowa, 
the  doughty  divine,  with  a  disdainful  wave  of  the 
hand,  replied  that  he  had  had  such  a  plenty  of 
prairie  chickens  at  home  that  he  was  cloyed  with 
them  long  ago,  and  did  not  need  to  come  to  New 
York  to  feast  on  them.  Mr.  Harper  replied: 
"Well,  if  you  must  leave  so  soon,  remain  a  little 
longer  at  any  rate  and  see  the  relish  your  Eastern 
brothers  have  for  your  Western  game  bird;  and  to 
assure  your  getting  to  the  Brooklyn  appointment 
in  time,  I  have  had  my  carriage  ordered  and  it 
will  be  ready  to  take  you  promptly  across;  so  sit 
down,  sit  down,  Father  Cartwright." 

Cartwright  replied:  "That  is  very  kind  and 
considerate,  Brother  Harper,  very  kind  indeed, 
and  I  thank  you  for  your  forethought.  But  in 
stead  of  sharing  the  next  course  with  you,  I  beg 
your  attention  before  I  leave  to  hear  from  me  a 
few  parting  words  of  admonition  and  counsel." 
The  request  was  granted,  and  I  repeat  what  he 
said  as  nearly  as  I  can  recall  his  report  of  the 
startling  words  with  which  he  addressed  them: 

"I  am  an  old  man;  the  sands  in  the  hour-glass 
of  my  life  have  nearly  finished  their  flow.  What 
I  can  say  and  what  I  can  do  in  this  world,  if 
accomplished  at  all,  must  be  done  promptly.  So 
I  wish  to  speak  very  plainly  to  you  tonight  the 


What  Religion  Meant  to  Lincoln  279 

last  words  I  may  ever  address  to  you.  If  I  had 
known  I  would  meet  such  a  nest  of  tories  and 
traitors  here,  I  would  never  have  put  my  legs 
under  your  boards,  nor  sat  down  and  broken 
bread  with  you  at  this  table.'* 

The  reader  can  readily  imagine  the  consterna 
tion  that  opening  sentence  brought  to  the  guests. 
I  shall  not  attempt  to  record  Cartwright's  descrip 
tion  of  the  scene,  but  among  other  things  he  said 
that  "every  mother's  son  of  them  straightened 
their  backs  bolt  upright  and  looked  as  though  their 
hearts  had  ceased  to  beat,  while  they  glared  on 
me,  waiting  for  what  would  come  next.  I  saw 
that  I  was  going  to  have  attention  from  that  table 
full  of  the  solid  men  of  New  York  and  I  never 
had  more  attentive  listeners." 

"My  father,"  resumed  Cartwright,  "was  a 
Revolutionary  patriot.  He  gave  the  best  years 
of  his  life  to  this  country  as  a  soldier  in  wresting 
from  the  British  Crown  the  independence  of  the 
Colonies  and  winning  the  West  for  these  United 
States.  Since  then  as  boy  and  man,  first  in  'the 
dark  and  bloody  battle  ground'  of  Kentucky's 
Indian  strife,  and  later  as  a  pioneer  in  the  frontier 
settlements  of  Illinois,  I  have  kept  most  sacred, 
by  personal  service  in  an  humble  way,  my  faith 
and  loyal  devotion  to  the  priceless  legacy  of  these 


280  Abraham  Lincoln 

United  States,  left  me  by  my  patriot-father.  I 
know  what  this  united  'country  is  worth  to  us 
now.  I  have  seen  and  rejoiced  in  its  growth,  I 
have  lived  its  glorious  life.  I  have  been  baptized 
with  the  blood  that  won,  and  have  had  a  part  in 
the  labours  that  cemented  together,  these  United 
States.  These  States  now  span  the  land  from 
ocean  to  ocean  with  more  happy  and  prosperous 
homes  than  God's  sun  ever  shone  on  before. 

"As  I  near  the  sunset  days  of  my  life  I  behold, 
with  none  of  your  dollar-blurred  vision,  what  is  to 
be  our  country's  future  if  we  hold  these  States 
united  as  our  fathers  bequeathed  them  to  us. 
At  the  same  time  I  see  in  anticipation  and  horror 
fully  as  clearly,  through  what  would  be  my 
blinding  tears  of  wrath  and  dismay,  the  huge  hell 
of  jealousy  and  discord  that  can  be  opened  up 
within  our  country's  boundaries  if  the  secession 
ists  succeed  in  rending  the  Union  of  our  States. 
You,  their  sympathizers  on  this  side  of  the  Mason 
and  Dixon  line,  are  accomplishing  here  today 
more  for  those  secessionists  against  maintaining 
the  Union  of  the  States,  by  your  criticisms  and 
lack  of  sympathy  for  President  Lincoln's  noble 
labours  for  the  Union  than  you  could  do  were  you 
down  South  this  hour  and  enrolled  in  the  ranks 
of  Jeff  Davis's  Confederacy. 


What  Religion  Meant  to  Lincoln  281 

"As  I  have  personalized  the  rebellion  in  its 
president's  name,  and  have  tonight  listened  to  such 
unpatriotic  censures  by  you  of  the  President  of 
the  United  States,  allow  me  to  express  to  you 
from  first-hand  knowledge  my  opinion  of  the 
personal  capacity  and  patriotism  of  President 
Lincoln.  As  the  crow  flies,  I  have  lived  within  a 
score  of  miles  of  Abraham  Lincoln  for  a  third  of 
a  century.  Until  shortly  before  he  took  the  oath 
of  office  as  President  of  the  United  States,  we 
had  trained  in  different  political  camps,  he  a  Whig 
and  I  a  Democrat.  I  remained  a  Democrat  until 
the  firing  on  Fort  Sumter.  Since  then  I  know 
no  party  save  that  of  my  undivided  country  and 
Abraham  Lincoln  its  President. 

"Once  we  were  opposing  candidates  for  a  seat 
in  Congress,  and,  measured  up  in  the  ballot-box, 
J  went  down  in  defeat.  But  it  was  defeat  by  a 
gentleman  and  a  patriot.  I  stand  here  tonight 
to  commend  to  you  the  Christian  character, 
sterling  integrity,  and  far-seeing  sagacity  of  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  whose  official  acts 
you  have,  in  your  blind  money-madness,  so 
critically  assailed  tonight.  I  am  confident  that 
he  is  the  man  to  meet  and  go  forward  in  this 
crisis  to  lead  his  countrymen  amid  and  through 
the  terrible  strife  in  which  we  are  now  engaged. 


282  Abraham  Lincoln 

He  has  a  cool-headed,  God-fearing,  and  unselfish 
love  of  his  country,  and  knows  from  top  to 
bottom  the  life  and  spirit  of  men  both  North 
and  South. 

"When  you  go  from  here  to  your  homes  tonight 
I  want  you  to  bear  with  you  the  assurances  of  his 
neighbour  and  once-political  opponent  that  the 
country  will  be  safe  in  his  hands.  I  wish  to  have 
you  understand  that  back  of  him  will  stand  an 
unflinching  host  of  Western  men,  who  have  no 
financial  ghosts  that  terrify  them  and  who  are 
destined  to  rescue  this  nation  from  the  perils 
now  before  us.  We  have  got  the  men  who  have 
got  the  right  kind  of  grit  in  them  out  West.  Why 
stand  ye  here  idle  critics?  May  God  send  patri 
otic  light  into  your  stingy  souls ! 

"I  am  through.  I  may  have  said  too  much, 
and  said  it  too  harshly,  for  I  am  not  a  man  of 
smooth,  soft  words.  I  was  born  in  a  cane-brake, 
where  my  mother  was  hastily  hurried  and  secreted 
to  escape  the  tomahawks  of  savage  Indians ;  I  was 
rocked  in  a  bee-gum  for  my  cradle ;  and  my  gradua 
tion  degrees  were  taken  from,  and  in,  life's  thunder 
storms.  I  may  be  considered  by  you  a  very  rude 
guest ;  but  in  such  national  distress,  when  I  feel  so 
intensely  my  country's  perils,  I  could  not  speak 
less  strongly  than  I  have  spoken.  I  could  not 


What  Religion  Meant  to  Lincoln  283 

withdraw  in  silence  and  go  sneaking  away  from 
this  company  and  this  table  without  feeling  that 
I  had  been  a  coward  and  false  to  my  country. 
I  can  be  neither,  now  nor  ever,  as  God  is  my  wit 
ness, — so  help  me  God! 

"In  a  last  word  and  as  my  farewell,  I  shall  give 
you  a  toast:  In  this  glass  of  Heaven-brewed 
*  Adam's  Ale,'  I  proclaim  and  admonish  you  with 
the  sentiments  uttered  by  the  great  Webster 
in  the  United  States  Senate,  and  its  patriotic 
companion-piece  announced  by  Senator  Douglas 
the  last  time  he  stood  before  an  Illinois 
audience." 

Cartwright  said  that  as  he  spoke  this  last 
sentence  he  reached  before  him  for  the  glass  of 
water  by  his  plate  and,  holding  it  high  above  him, 
repeated  the  words  of  the  two  illustrious  senators : 
"Liberty  and  Union,  now  and  forever,  one  and 
inseparable ! "  "  There  are  now  but  two  parties, — 
Patriots  and  Traitors!" 

Nothing  more  vivid  rises  up  out  of  my  memories 
of  more  than  half  a  century  past  than  these 
earnest  words  as  he  repeated  them  to  us  with  that 
intensity  and  emotion  so  characteristic  of  that 
veteran  hero  of  Western  Methodism,  that  life 
long  Jacksonian  Democrat  of  the  stalwart,  old- 
school  type  of  partisanship. 


284  Abraham  Lincoln 

This  conversation  occurred  in  the  latter  part 
of  1862,  ten  years  after  Cartwright's  autobiography 
had  been  published.  In  that  book  he  had  made 
no  mention  of  his  candidacy  for  Congress  with 
Lincoln  as  his  opponent,  though  that  campaign 
was  made  ten  years  before  his  autobiography 
appeared.  This  omission  seemed  to  me  at  the 
time  peculiar ;  and  I  was  all  the  more  at  a  loss  to 
account  for  it  on  hearing  him  speak  so  favourably 
of  President  Lincoln.  So  I  ventured  to  mention 
this  omission  and  to  ask  him  whether  there  had 
not  been  some  very  interesting  matters  connected 
with  the  Congressional  campaign  of  1 846  between 
himself  and  Lincoln  well  worth  the  telling  in  his 
autobiography. 

Cartwright  replied  that  I  should  remember  that 
when  he  published  his  autobiography  in  1856 
Lincoln  had  not  attained  national  prominence. 
But  he  said  that  the  principal  reason  for  this 
omission  was  that  he  thought  his  own  political 
ventures  the  most  unsatisfactory  part  of  his  life 
to  him  and  to  many  of  his  friends.  He  said  that 
this  was  a  portion  of  his  past  that  he  referred  to 
in  the  closing  page  of  his  book  where  he  asked 
forgiveness  for  all  the  shortcomings  and  imperfec 
tions  without  number  in  his  eventful  life.  He 
added:  "That  1846  campaign  cured  me  of  all 


What  Religion  Meant  to  Lincoln  285 

political  hankerings  for  office,  and  I  hope  the  good 
Lord  will  forever  save  me  from  getting  any  more 
political  bees  in  my  bonnet." 

It  was  at  this  point  in  the  conversation  that 
my  mother  referred  to  the  campaign  story  of  1846 
in  regard  to  Lincoln's  being  an  avowed  infidel 
when  at  Salem.  She  put  the  direct  question  to 
him  whether  he  was  not  now  convinced  that  the 
charge  was  false;  and  that  the  story  circulated  at 
that  time,  that  Lincoln  wrote  a  book  at  Salem 
attacking  the  Bible, — which  manuscript  was 
burned  by  Samuel  Hill, — was  not  a  gross  fabrica 
tion  based  upon  the  burning  of  another  paper 
having  no  relation  to  the  Bible,  or  any  religious 
subject. 

Cartwright  replied  that  he  had  learned  as  much 
as  that  from  an  intimate  conversation  he  had 
with  Menter  Graham  some  years  after  that 
campaign.  From  him  he  learned  the  facts  con 
cerning  that  unfortunate  story.  He  found  that 
he  had  been  woefully  misinformed  and  misled 
by  the  account  he  had  received,  believed,  and 
circulated,  about  the  infidel  book  said  to  have  been 
burnt  by  Hill.  He  said  that  he  was  so  chagrined 
and  abashed  by  the  discovery  of  the  political 
purpose  in  that  story  that  it  was  one  of  the 


286  Abraham  Lincoln 

m 
inducements  that  caused  him  to  ignore  in  his  book 

everything  connected  with  his  candidacy  against 
Lincoln  in  1846. 

"I  did  not  wish,"  he  said,  "to  embalm  in  my 
history  a  story  that  nobody  since  has  ever  referred 
to.  It  was  dead.  It  was  very  silly  in  me  not 
to  have  verified  the  whole  story  at  the  time  and 
found  how  false  it  was.  A  short  time  after 
Lincoln's  nomination  for  the  presidency  by  the 
Republican  party  in  1860, "  he  went  on  to  say,  "  I 
found  more  substantial  reasons  than  any  I  ever 
had  before,  to  assure  me  that  Lincoln  was  not 
what  my  party  friends  and  I,  relying  upon  them, 
had  charged  him  with  being  in  1846.  This  came 
from  my  meeting  Dr.  Smith,  the  pastor  of  the 
First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Springfield,  and 
spending  an  evening  in  his  company  at  the  home 
of  a  mutual  friend  in  Springfield.  I  found  him  a 
pleasant  Christian  gentleman  and  the  evening  in 
his  society  was  a  profitable  one.  He  was  a  college 
man,  but  I  found  he  had  roughed  it  on  the  frontier 
as  well,  and  got  the  college  starch  out  of  him. 
Dr.  Smith  told  me  that  Lincoln  and  his  family 
were  regular  attendants  at  his  church,  and  that 
at  some  time  he  expected  Lincoln  to  unite  with  his 
church,  as  Mrs.  Lincoln  had  done.  Dr.  Smith 
said  that  Mrs.  Lincoln  had  been  brought  up  as  an 


What  Religion  Meant  to  Lincoln  287 

Episcopalian  and  previous  to  their  marriage  had 
attended  that  church;  but  that  in  deference  to 
Lincoln's  strong  Baptist  views  against  so  many 
formalities  in  church  worship,  she  had  joined  the 
Presbyterian  Church  as  a  compromise,  expecting 
Lincoln  at  some  future  time  to  come  into  that 
church."  In  line  with  his  strong  sectarian  bias 
that  remained  even  in  his  old  age  in  spite  of 
all  the  enlightening  influences  surrounding  him, 
Cartwright  went  on  to  say :  "I  have  no  sympathy 
or  use  for  Presbyterian  Calvinism  myself,  but 
nevertheless  it  is  probably  a  saving  doctrine.  I 
have  known  too  many  devout  men  and  women 
in  the  Presbyterian  Church  to  quarrel  with  them 
as  much  as  I  did  in  my  earlier  days.  Jacquess 
also  assured  me  that  during  the  year  he  was 
stationed  in  Springfield  he  had  spent  many  hours 
with  Lincoln  in  the  State  Library,  and  by  their 
conversations,  was  well  satisfied  that  Lincoln's 
attitude  toward  religion  was  not  that  of  an  infidel." 
Cartwright  said  that  his  being  a  member  of 
the  State  legislature  had  put  such  political  ambi 
tions  into  his  head  that  it  was  not  hard  for  his 
friends  to  get  him  into  the  canvass  for  Congress 
in  1846.  That  hereafter,  if  the  Lord  and  the 
good  people  would  forgive  him  for  the  political 
campaigning  of  his  life  in  the  past,  he  felt  proof 


288  Abraham  Lincoln 

against  being  tempted  into  any  political  strife 
again  in  his  few  remaining  days.  He  believed 
that  Lincoln  was  fitted  for  political  life  and  knew 
how  to  keep  his  eye  on  the  laurel  while  he  played 
the  game;  but  for  himself  he  had  tried  and  most 
ingloriously  failed  in  it,  and  knew  that  for  Peter 
Cart wright,  hereafter,  it  would  be  better  to  stick 
to  Methodism  and  fighting  the  devil  and  his  imps, 
and  when  no  longer  able  for  that  work  he  should 
settle  down  on  his  farm  at  Pleasant  Plains  until 
God  should  call  him  home. 

From  these  digressions,  in  which  later  incidents 
in  Lincoln's  life  have  been  considered,  we  now 
return  to  the  earlier  period  presented  in  the 
opening  pages  of  this  chapter.  For  a  score  of 
years,  beginning  about  1870,  the  matter  of  Lin 
coln's  religious  belief  while  at  Salem  became  a 
question  of  great  interest  and  inquiry.  In  the 
lectures  that  were  delivered  and  the  books  pub 
lished  on  this  subject  at  that  time,  extreme  state 
ments  were  made  on  both  sides  of  the  question. 
I  shall  not  undertake  to  review  all,  or  even  a  con 
siderable  part,  of  the  assertions  and  evidence  in 
their  support  set  forth  during  those  years,  much 
less  to  share  in  the  partisan  spirit  that  marked 
those  discussions  by  extremists  on  both  sides. 


What  Religion  Meant  to  Lincoln  289 

The  statement  of  a  few  facts  will  be  sufficient 
to  explain  and  entirely  eliminate  the  basis  of  the 
charge  that  Lincoln  wrote  a  book  or  essay  attacking 
the  Christian  religion  in  general,  and  the  Bible  in 
particular,  and  that  this  manuscript  was  consigned 
to  the  flames  by  Samuel  Hill.  This  charge  is 
quite  on  a  par  with  the  story  of  the  patient  to 
whom  his  physician  administered  an  emetic  with 
the  result  that  the  sick  man  threw  up  something 
of  a  very  dark  colour.  As  the  story  was  repeated 
in  the  neighbourhood  gossip  it  grew  in  colouring 
and  detail,  each  narrator  generously  contributing 
his  share  toward  the  building  up  of  a  story  of 
cumulative  interest  in  which  the  effect  of  the 
emetic  was  successively  said  to  be  the  vomiting 
of  something  'Very  dark," — ''as  black  as  a  crow, " 
— ' '  a  crow,  * '  ' '  two  crows ! "  So  the  man  who  took 
the  emetic  was  known  thereafter  as  "the  man 
who  threw  up  two  crows."  The  story  of  Lincoln's 
infidel  book  being  burnt  by  Samuel  Hill  grew 
farther  beyond  the  simple  original  facts  than  the 
story  of  the  emetic  and  its  startling  effect  on  the 
poor  patient  with  the  black  crow  record. 

Mr.  Hill  was  a  very  efficient  merchant  of  Salem. 
He  was  the  first  to  place  on  his  shelves  for  the 

accommodation  of  the  early  settlers  a  wide  variety 

19 


290  Abraham  Lincoln 

of  goods  embracing  a  full  assortment  of  the 
necessities  and  some  of  the  luxuries  of  life,  similar 
to  the  department  stores  of  the  present  day.  He 
made  a  financial  success,  measured  by  the  stand 
ards  and  within  the  limits  of  mercantile  affairs 
of  that  time.  When  this  has  been  said  all  has 
been  said  in  his  favour  that  is  possible  upon  the 
theory  that  business  versatility  develops  a  well- 
rounded  character.  Did  it  not  take  us  too  far 
afield  from  the  subject  of  this  chapter,  many 
amusing  incidents  might  be  related  illustrating 
Mr.  Hill's  peculiar  and  not  always  amiable  weak 
nesses  when  acting  outside  of  the  strictly  mercan 
tile  lines  of  his  affairs.  Some  of  his  peculiarities, 
as  described  by  his  nephew,  will  be  mentioned 
later. 

For  my  account  of  some  things  leading  up  to 
the  story  of  the  burning  of  the  manuscript,  I  rely 
upon  my  mother's  memory.  She  had  her  informa 
tion  from  Ann  Rutledge,  who  in  turn  had  the 
story  from  McNeil  before  he  started  on  his 
journey  to  visit  his  parents  in  the  East. 


was  not  more  popular  among  Greek  boys 
than  was  Abraham  Lincoln  with  the  boys  and 
girls,  big  and  little,  older  or  younger,  in  and 
around  Salem.  He  wrote  their  letters,  read  the 


What  Religion  Meant  to  Lincoln  291 

answers  for  those  who  could  not  read,  and  was 
a  general  factotum  for  the  village  and  its  neigh 
bourhood.  One  day  a  fat  letter,  or  roll  of  manu 
script,  was  found  on  the  road  by  some  one  who 
could  not  read  and  it  was  quite  naturally  taken 
to  Lincoln  to  decipher.  It  proved  to  be  a  letter 
addressed  to  McNeil  by  Hill  enclosing  invoices 
of  goods.  It  was,  besides,  a  letter  which  should 
have  been  guarded  with  special  care;  for  upon 
reading  it  Lincoln  found  the  explanation  for  the 
sudden  dissolution  of  the  firm  of  Hill  &  McNeil, 
which  had  occurred  some  time  before  when  Hill 
had  purchased  his  partner's  interest  in  the  business. 
The  reasons  for  this  abrupt  ending  of  the  partner 
ship  were  given  in  unmistakable  terms  by  Hill 
in  the  letter.  He  made  a  violent  personal  attack 
upon  McNeil  for  disloyalty  to  his  senior  partner 
by  becoming  the  accepted  suitor  of  Miss  Ann 
Rutledge,  and  thus  destroying  Hill's  hopes  of  se 
curing  her  hand  at  some  future  time  for  himself. 
It  is  certainly  not  unreasonable  to  assume  that 
Lincoln  was  intensely  interested  and  amused  as  he 
read  the  letter.  Hill's  age  was  nearly  twice  Miss 
Rutledge's,  and  she  said  when  communicating  the 
incident  to  my  mother  that  from  their  occasional 
meetings  at  the  store  or  at  her  father's  home  she 
had  never  gained  the  slightest  idea  that  Hill  had 


292  Abraham  Lincoln 

^| 

any  warmer  interest  in  her  than  that  of  a  merchant 
desirous  of  her  father's  trade.  McNeil  was  also 
in  blissful  ignorance  of  his  partner's  secret  adora 
tion  of  Miss  Rutledge;  and  it  is  quite  natural  to 
suppose  that  he  was  greatly  surprised  on  receipt 
of  the  letter,  if  one  of  his  cool  temperament  was 
capable  of  surprise.  Hill's  letter  demanded  the 
closing  out  of  the  partnership  and  McNeil's  re 
tirement  at  once,  and  offered  a  handsome  sum 
in  consideration  of  his  share  in  the  store  and  the 
outstanding  accounts. 

McNeil  being  a  man  of  quick  judgment  and 
few  words  in  matters  of  business,  curtly  accepted 
Hill's  offer.  It  was  amid  the  disorder  attending 
the  rapid  closing  up  of  his  business  affairs  at 
Salem  outside  the  store,  preliminary  to  his  trip 
east  to  visit  his  parents,  that  McNeil  lost  Hill's 
letter  which  was  found  and  taken  to  Lincoln. 
He  was  not  at  all  interested  in  the  bulky  sheets  of 
invoices  with  their  mazes  of  figures,  but  the  sub 
ject-matter  of  the  letter  and  the  direct  personal 
attack  upon  McNeil  aroused  Lincoln's  sense  of 
humour  immensely;  and  without  considering  how 
sensitive  Hill  might  be  concerning  the  very 
private  nature  of  his  business  relations  with  his 
partner  and  the  more  delicate  matter  of  Hill's 
affection  for  Miss  Rutledge,  Lincoln  at  once, 


What  Religion  Meant  to  Lincoln  293 

in  his  most  humorous  mood,  took  the  letter  to 
Hill.  The  result  was  startling.  Hill  flew  into  a 
towering  rage  over  the  disclosure  of  his  private 
business  affairs;  but  the  publicity  given  to  his 
grievance  against  McNeil  because  of  his  attention 
to  Miss  Rutledge  was  doubtless  the  more  serious 
occasion  of  his  wrath.  Lincoln  stood  near  him 
with  the  unfolded  letter  in  his  hands.  It  con 
sisted  of  many  long  pages  containing  invoices  and 
lists  of  merchandise,  as  well  as  the  more  personal 
pages  so  painfully  embarrassing  to  Hill  and  so 
amusing  to  Lincoln.  It  was  more  than  Hill  could 
endure.  He  went  all  to  pieces.  In  his  wrath  he 
snatched  the  package  from  Lincoln  and  thrust  it 
into  the  fire. 

That  was  the  manuscript  of  such  historic 
notoriety  that  was  burned  by  Hill.  From  its 
ashes  came  forth  the  story  charging  Lincoln  with 
the  authorship  of  an  infidel  attack  on  the  Bible 
and  the  Christian  religion.  This  story  was  used 
against  him  in  the  Congressional  campaign  of  1846, 
and  resurrected  in  the  biographies  written  years 
after  Lincoln's  death.  Why  it  was  not  exposed  at 
the  time  may  be  readily  seen.  At  the  time  of  the 
Congressional  campaign  of  1846,  Hill,  McNeil  (now 
McNamar),  and  Lincoln  all  had  been  married; 


294  Abraham  Lincoln 

Hill  for  eleven  years,  McNamar  nine  years,  and 
Lincoln  four  years.  At  that  time,  and  in  the  midst 
of  a  warm  political  campaign,  it  would  have  been 
a  very  difficult  matter  to  explain  and  publish  the 
actual  facts  regarding  the  manuscript  that  had 
been  burned,  without  involving  several  families  in 
serious  embarrassment  by  the  explanation.  Hill 
was  then  a  violent  Democratic  partisan  and  was 
quite  willing  that  Cartwright's  candidacy  should  be 
helped  by  his  silence  to  say  nothing  of  his  reluct 
ance  to  renew  his  own  chagrin  and  embarrass  his 
family  by  a  statement  of  the  facts.  Moreover, 
Lincoln  was  the  soul  of  honour  and  would  suffer 
misrepresentation  in  silence  rather  than  embarrass 
a  lady  by  giving  the  facts.  And  this  Hill  knew 
full  well. 

Samuel  Hill's  action  in  snatching  these  sheets 
from  Lincoln  and  burning  them  and  the  false 
assertions  circulated  by  others  concerning  their 
contents,  have  brought  Hill's  name  into  such 
peculiar  prominence  as  to  suggest  further  con 
sideration  of  his  personality,  to  discover  whether 
his  characteristics  may  throw  light  upon  his 
actions  in  this  matter.  With  this  in  view  I  wrote 
Hon.  A.  G.  Nance  of  Petersburg,  asking  for  such 
recollections  of  Hill's  peculiarities  as  he  could 


What  Religion  Meant  to  Lincoln  295 

furnish.  Mr.  Nance  was  a  nephew  of  Mrs.  Hill; 
and  I  will  give  his  own  words  in  reply  to  my 
request : 

My  grandparents  moved  from  Kentucky  to  Illinois 
in  the  Fall  of  1832  and  settled  on  a  farm  three  miles 
south  of  Salem.  They  brought  with  them  a  large 
family,  the  youngest  of  whom  was  Parthena,  a  girl  of 
sixteen.  Hill  was  twice  as  old  as  my  aunt,  but  he 
became  infatuated  with  her  at  once,  and  after  a 
courtship  lasting  until  July  28,  1835,  he  was  married 
to  my  aunt  at  my  grandfather's.  I  own  the  farm  now, 
it  never  having  passed  out  of  the  Nance  family. 

Hill  was  a  successful  merchant  but  had  a  peculiar 
temper.  It  was  such  that  he  could  not  drive  the 
team  when  he  took  his  wife  out  for  a  drive.  His  wife 
sat  on  the  front  seat  and  drove  the  horses  while  Hill 
sat  on  the  back  seat.  Mrs.  Hill  was  a  balanced 
woman;  she  had  common  sense; — I  mean  she  had 
good  sense  about  ordinary  things.  She  was  tactful; 
she  could  manage  the  team  and  her  husband,  and 
would  not  get  into  trouble  with  either. 

Mr.  Hill  appreciated  her  splendid  qualities  and  if 
anyone  dropped  a  remark  about  a  place  or  thing  that 
could  be  construed  into  a  criticism  of  his  wife  he  would 
fight  his  weight  in  wild  cats  about  it.  Hill  would  get 
offended  sometimes  when  no  offence  was  intended. 
Major  Thos.  L.  Harris  when  in  company  with  Uncle 
Samuel  Hill  one  day,  made  the  remark  about  Green 


296  Abraham  Lincoln 

^ 

County,  Kentucky,  not  being  the  best  county  in 
Kentucky  (which  was  true) ;  but  it  being  the  county 
Mrs.  Hill  emigrated  from  when  she  came  to  Illinois, 
Hill  took  exceptions  to  the  remark  and  became 
dangerously  angry  and  abused  Major  Harris  until  the 
bystanders  were  amazed  and  wondered  how  Harris 
could  take  it.  Herndon  in  his  book  says  that  this 
difficulty  was  between  Lincoln  and  Hill.  Herndon  is 
mistaken,  I  am  quite  sure.  My  aunt  regretted  it 
and  never  believed  for  a  moment  that  Major  Harris 
thought  of  her  when  he  made  the  remark,  and  at  the 
time  and  always  afterwards  was  a  warm  friend  of 
Major  Harris  and  his  wife. 

My  aunt,  Mrs.  Parthena  Hill,  was  a  remarkable 
woman.  She  was  not  fickle-minded.  Her  love  was 
uniform  and  could  be  depended  upon.  The  man 
who  sawed  her  wood  did  this  job  for  more  than 
thirty  years  without  a  change.  She  loved  all  who 
came  in  contact  with  her  and  all  loved  her. 

This  letter  of  Hon.  A.  G.  Nance  illustrates  the 
personality  of  Mr.  Samuel  Hill  very  well.  It 
shows  his  susceptibility  to  the  charms  of  youth 
while  at  New  Salem  and  his  hot  temper  at  all 
times  when  any  one  offended  him  or  crossed  his 
purposes;  and  the  fidelity  and  love  with  which  he 
clung  to  and  defended  his  most  excellent  wife. 
To  the  reader  it  may  suffice  to  explain  the  reason 
ableness  of  this  most  unreasonable  incident  of 


What  Religion  Meant  to  Lincoln  297 

his  snatching  from  Lincoln's  hand  the  harmless 
papers  and  consigning  them  to  the  flames.  It 
also  makes  it  easier  for  us  to  understand  why  Hill 
never  explained  to  any  one  the  facts  that  would 
have  vindicated  Lincoln  from  the  unfortunate 
story  that  at  last  passed  with  such  false  interpre 
tation  into  an  exciting  Congressional  campaign, 
and  with  sensational  trimmings  into  some  of  his 
biographies  after  his  death. 

In  connection  with  this  report  that  I  received 
from  my  mother  and  she  from  a  person  who  was 
present  when  the  letter  and  invoices  were  burnt, 
I  would  call  the  reader's  attention  to  a  reference 
in  the  letter  of  Menter  Graham  dated  March 
17,  1874,  to  Mr.  B.  F.  Irwin  which  appears  in  this 
chapter.  This  substantially  refers  to  and  verifies 
the  facts  concerning  the  papers  that  were  burned, 
as  shown  in  the  more  detailed  account  which 
has  been  already  given  here  by  me. 


Under  date  of  April  20,  1874,  Mr.  B.  F.  Irwin 
of  Pleasant  Plains,  Sangamon  County,  Illinois, 
sent  to  the  Illinois  State  Journal  a  lengthy  com 
munication  entitled,  "Lincoln's  Religious  Belief." 
The  occasion  for  the  article,  Mr.  Irwin  said,  was 
his  reading  of  a  lecture  by  the  Hon.  William  H. 
Herndon,  delivered  in  the  court  house  in  Spring- 


298  Abraham  Lincoln 

field  some  months  before.  In  the  opening  para 
graph  he  states  that  he  was  urgently  requested 
to  review  Mr.  Herndon's  lecture  and  that  he  at 
that  time  promised  to  do  so  at  the  proper  time. 
This  article,  published  so  soon  after  Herndon's 
lecture  and  in  reply  to  it,  with  its  strong  clear- 
cut  sentences,  and  including  letters  received  by 
Mr.  Irwin  from  several  gentlemen  on  the  subject- 
matter  of  his  article,  was  never,  so  far  as  I  have 
been  able  to  learn,  contradicted  or  answered  in 
the  papers  of  Springfield  or  elsewhere  by  either 
Mr.  Herndon  or  anyone  else. 

I  knew  Mr.  B.  F.  Irwin  quite  well  during  the 
years  preceding  the  Civil  War  and  after,  meeting 
him  occasionally  up  to  a  short  time  before  his 
death.  I  had  been  present  on  several  occasions 
when  he  visited  the  law  office  of  Lincoln  & 
Herndon,  before  as  well  as  after  Lincoln's  election 
to  the  presidency.  I  know  that  both  members  of 
the  firm  had  a  high  respect  for  Mr.  Irwin  and  at 
various  times  consulted  with  him  in  confidential 
political  conferences  in  the  office,  and  treated 
him  and  his  opinions  with  marked  deference  and 
respect. 

I  shall  endeavour  to  give  in  this  connection  the 
material  part  of  Mr.  Irwin 's  article,  together  with 
the  full  text  of  several  letters  and  the  substance 


What  Religion  Meant  to  Lincoln  299 

of  certain  interviews  reported  in  the  article.  I 
can  assure  the  reader  that  entire  confidence  may 
be  placed  in  Mr.  Irwin's  statement  of  facts  as  he 
understood  them,  and  that  the  letters  as  pub 
lished  in  his  article,  and  here  reproduced,  are 
authentic  copies  of  the  genuine  originals  all  of 
whose  authors  were  living  when  the  article  was 
published.  Mr.  Irwin  begins  his  article  by  saying 
that  the  time  to  reply  to  some  points  in  Mr. 
Herndon's  lecture  has  arrived: 

I  propose  noticing  a  few  points  in  the  address  of  Mr. 
Herndon,  and  I  think  I  will  be  able  to  show  that  Mr. 
Herndon  himself  never  knew  nor  understood  really 
what  the  faith  or  religious  belief  of  Lincoln  was.  I 
wish  it  now  and  here  understood  that  Mr.  Herndon's 
candour,  or  veracity,  I  do  not  call  in  question,  nor  will 
I  designedly  say  anything  to  offend  him.  He  and  I 
have  been  for  twenty-five  years  good  friends,  and  I 
hope  that  friendship  may  continue.  Mr.  Herndon 
has  a  right  to  prove  Lincoln  an  infidel,  if  he  can.  I 
claim  the  same  right  to  prove  that  Lincoln  was  not 
an  infidel,  if  I  can.  If  Mr.  Lincoln  was  an  infidel,  as 
Herndon  says,  it  is  proper  for  the  world  to  know  it. 
If  he  was  not  an  infidel,  the  charge  is  wrong  and  a 
slander,  for  infidelity  in  the  nineteenth  century  is  no 
honour  to  any  man,  dead  or  alive. 

Mr.   Herndon  in  his  speech  uses  this  language: 


300  Abraham  Lincoln 

"One  side  of  this  question  can  be  proved.  It  is 
admitted  on  all  hands  that  Lincoln  once  was  an  infidel ; 
that  he  wrote  a  small  book  or  essay,  or  pamphlet 
against  Christianity,  and  that  he  [Lincoln]  continued 
an  unbeliever  until  late  in  life."  Herndon  further 
says :  "  It  is  a  rule  of  law  as  well  as  a  rule  of  common 
sense,  that  when  a  certain  state  or  condition  of  affairs 
is  once  proved  to  exist,  the  presumption  is  that  it 
still  exists  until  the  contrary  is  proved;  this  rule  to 
have  full  force  until  the  contrary  is  proved." 

Now  I  stand  by  that  proposition  as  a  true  one. 
Will  Mr.  Herndon  do  so  ?  But  he  is  woefully  mistaken 
in  his  statement  that  "  all  admit  that  Lincoln  was  once 
an  infidel."  I  have  never  yet  heard  one  single  man 
express  the  belief  that  Lincoln  was  an  infidel,  either 
early  or  later  in  life,  while  I  am  confident  I  have  heard 
one  hundred  different  persons  express  astonishment 
at  Mr.  Herndon' s  writing  and  publishing  Lincoln  to 
the  world  an  infidel.  Mr.  Herndon,  it  is  true,  did 
have  opportunity  and  advantages  over  others  in 
knowing  Lincoln's  religious  opinions.  But  other  men 
had  some  opportunities  as  well  as  Mr.  Herndon, 
and  to  them  I  shall  have  to  appeal,  for  I  do  not 
claim  personally  to  know  anything  about  Lincoln's 
religious  faith.  Though  personally  acquainted  with 
Lincoln  for  twenty-five  years,  and  often  in  his  office, 
I  never  heard  him  say  a  word  on  the  subject  of 
Christianity  or  religious  belief.  Hence,  my  own 
opinion  of  Lincoln's  faith  or  belief  is  based  on  the 


What  Religion  Meant  to  Lincoln  301 

testimony  of  those  who  do  know,  who  had  it  from 
Lincoln  himself;  and  I  believe  them;  for  the  weight 
of  testimony  is  certainly  against  Mr.  Herndon. 
The  Scriptures  of  Truth  lay  it  down  as  a  Divine  rule 
that  the  evidence  of  two  or  three  witnesses  is  better 
than  one.  Common  law  lays  down  the  same  rule, 
borrowed  from  Divine  authority,  and  our  courts  are 
governed  by  it  in  their  decisions. 

Mr.  Herndon,  in  his  reply  to  Mr.  Reed,  says  he  is 
talking  to  establish  the  truth  of  a  controversy  between 
those  who  hold  that  Lincoln  was  a  disbeliever,  and 
those  who  hold  that  he  died  a  Christian  (a  believer 
in  Christ);  and  then  says:  "If  I  fail  to  establish  my 
point,  it  will  be  because  of  the  manner  and  method 
of  presenting  the  facts."  I  have  read  that  lecture 
over  carefully,  and  I  fail  to  find  any  proof  of  Herndon 's 
proposition  that  Lincoln  ever  was  an  infidel  or  an 
unbeliever.  The  nearest  I  see  to  it  is  the  statement 
of  Col.  J.  H.  Matheny.  He  uses  this  language  sub 
stantially:  Mr.  Lincoln's  earlier  life  is  his  whole 
life  and  history  in  Illinois  up  to  the  time  he  left  for 
Washington  City.  He  [Lincoln]  was,  as  I  understand 
it,  a  confirmed  infidel. 

Now  Matheny  fails  to  tell  us  how  he  got  that 
understanding.  Did  he  get  it  from  Lincoln?  He 
doesn't  say  so,  and  the  reason  he  doesn't  say  so  is  he 
got  it  from  some  other  source,  probably  from  Herndon. 
But  clearly,  to  be  of  any  weight  as  evidence  he  must 
have  got  that  understanding  from  Mr.  Lincoln  him- 


302  Abraham  Lincoln 

self.  Mr.  Matheny  may  sometime  in  life  have  heard 
Lincoln  use  some  of  the  arguments  of  Tom  Paine  or 
advance  infidel  ideas,  and  still  not  be  an  infidel. 
I  have  heard  an  official  member  of  the  Methodist 
Church  in  this  town  advance  as  strong  infidel  senti 
ments  as  Tom  Paine  ever  did,  and  you  would  insult 
the  man  to  say  he  was  an  infidel.  So  any  Christian 
may  use  the  language  or  advance  some  of  the  senti 
ments  of  Tom  Paine,  and  be  far  from  an  infidel. 
Lincoln  may  have  done  all  that,  and  still  not  be  an 
infidel. 

I  do  not  believe  Lincoln  ever  was  an  infidel, 
and  I  can  state  truly  and  say  just  what  Matheny 
said.  I  understood  Lincoln*  was  an  infidel,  but  I 
never  believed  the  statement  true.  Matheny  under 
stood  it;  in  other  words,  he  had  heard  it,  but  knew 
nothing  about  the  facts  in  the  case.  I  have  seen  Mr. 
Matheny  since,  and  he  states  that  he  never  had  it 
from  Lincoln  that  he  was  an  infidel,  and  never  believed 
it.  If  Mr.  Herndon  is  in  possession  of  the  evidence 
in  writing  or  otherwise  to  prove  that  Lincoln  was  an 
infidel,  either  earlier  or  later  in  life,  he  ought  to  bring 
forth  the  proof  to  sustain  his  proposition;  for  he  has 
long  since  learned  that  the  statement  alone  fails  to 
satisfy  the  public  mind  that  Lincoln  ever  was  an 
infidel.  Mr.  Herndon,  in  his  Abbott  letter,  truly  says 
the  charge  of  infidelity  was  made  against  Lincoln 
when  he  was  a  candidate  for  Congress  in  1846;  and 
then  adds:  "Mr.  Lincoln  did  not  deny  the  charge, 


What  Religion  Meant  to  Lincoln  303 

because  it  was  true."  The  charge  of  infidelity  was 
made  against  Lincoln  at  that  time,  and  I  suppose 
Lincoln  made  no  public  denial  of  the  charge  for  the 
reason  the  canvass  was  being  made  on  political  grounds 
and  not  on  religious  faith  or  belief.  This  much  was 
said  at  the  time,  as  I  well  remember  to  be  the  facts 
in  the  case. 

About  the  time  of  building  the  flat-boat  on  the 
Sangamon  River  in  1830  when  Lincoln  was  quite  a 
young  man,  a  religious  controversy  was  the  topic  in 
which  Lincoln  took  a  part.  [This  was  in  a  neigh 
bourhood  debating  club  that  met  twice  a  month,  all 
sorts  of  questions  being  discussed.  The  two  chief 
disputants  were  appointed  by  the  chairman,  without 
regard  to  their  opinions  on  the  subject  to  be  debated, 
and  they  chose  from  the  members  of  the  club  their 
respective  colleagues  without  regard  to  their  opinions. 
In  these  debates  some  startling  things  were  often 
said.]  And  in  the  argument,  Lincoln  used  the  lan 
guage  that,  according  to  the  history  of  the  case  in  the 
New  Testament,  Christ  was  a  bastard  and  his  mother 
a  base  woman.  This  he  may  have  used  at  the  time, 
as  young  men  sometimes  do  use  vain  language,  and 
seventeen  years  afterwards,  when  he  was  a  candidate 
for  Congress  against  Peter  Cartwright,  a  Methodist 
preacher,  that  vain  remark  was  remembered  and, 
Tom  Paine  having  used  similar  language,  Lincoln 
was  published  in  some  of  the  papers  as  an  infidel. 
The  above  was  the  explanation  published  at  the 


304  Abraham  Lincoln 

time,  and  the  charge  of  infidelity  did  no  harm.  Had 
Lincoln  been  known  as  an  infidel  or  believed  to  be  one 
at  that  time,  I  am  certain  he  would  have  been  beaten 
badly  by  Cartwright  in  the  canvass. 

Again,  Mr.  Herndon,  in  his  Abbott  letter,  says: 
"  It  is  not  to  be  found  in  print  that  Lincoln  ever  used 
the  word  Christ."  In  fact,  Herndon  says,  he  never 
did  use  it,  only  to  deny  Christ  as  the  son  of  God. 
Now  that  statement  may  be  true,  that  he  did  not 
use  the  term  Christ,  but  if  Mr.  Herndon  will  examine 
the  speeches  of  the  public  men  of  this  nation  I  believe 
I  am  safe  in  saying  that  Lincoln  used  and  quoted 
more  Scripture  than  any  man  in  the  nation;  and  that 
he  quoted  the  parables  and  language  of  Christ  oftener 
than  any  public  man  living.  Not  only  did  Lincoln 
quote  Scripture,  but  he  used  it  as  being  of  Divine 
authority,  and  applicable  to  the  affairs  of  earth. 

Mr.  Herndon  gives  us  to  understand  that  Lincoln 
did  not  believe  the  New  Testament  Scriptures  to 
be  any  more  inspired  than  Homer's  songs,  Milton's 
Paradise  Lost,  or  Shakespeare.  If  Herndon  is  correct, 
it  seems  strange  Lincoln  made  no  use  of  those  books. 
On  the  1 6th  of  June,  1858,  as  a  foundation  for  an 
argument,  he  used  the  language  of  Christ,  "A  house 
divided  against  itself  cannot  stand,"  in  reply  to 
Douglas.  In  the  same  campaign  he  four  times  used 
the  parables  of  Christ;  in  his  second  inaugural  address, 
"woe  unto  the  world  because  of  its  offences, "  Christ's 
language  again. 


What  Religion  Meant  to  Lincoln  305 

But  I  need  not  multiply  quotations.  His  speeches, 
proclamations,  and  messages  are  so  full  of  quotations 
of  Scripture,  and  always  the  language  of  Christ  him 
self.  He  could  not  have  been  an  infidel  without  being 
a  base  hypocrite;  and  I  don't  believe  a  more  honest 
man  lived  on  earth. 

Mr.  Herndon  has  said  that  in  Lincoln's  early  life 
he  wrote  a  pamphlet,  book,  or  manuscript,  against 
Christianity.  I  propose  to  show  that  the  manuscript 
written  by  Lincoln  was  in  favour  of  Christianity;  to 
do  so,  I  will  offer  the  evidence  of  Mr.  Graham,  who 
knew  Lincoln  when  he  was  a  boy  in  Kentucky,  and 
with  whom  Lincoln  boarded  for  some  two  years;  and 
if  any  man  on  earth  ought  to  know  Lincoln's  religious 
faith  or  belief  that  man  is  Menter  Graham  who  was 
intimate  with  Lincoln  from  the  time  he  came  to 
Illinois  to  the  time  he  left  for  Washington  City.  I 
will  give  the  letter  in  full: 

Statement  of  Mr.  Menter  Graham 

"PETERSBURG,  ILL.,  March  17,  1874. 
"B.  F.  IRWIN: 

"SiR: — In  reply  to  your  inquiries: — Abraham  Lin 
coln  was  living  at  my  house  in  New  Salem,  going  to 
school,  studying  English  grammar  and  surveying,  in 
the  year  1833.  One  morning  he  said  to  me :  'Graham, 
what  do  you  think  about  the  anger  of  the  Lord?' 
I  replied:  'I  believe  the  Lord  never  was  angry,  or 

20 


306  Abraham  Lincoln 

^ 

mad,  and  never  would  be;  that  "His  loving  kindness 
endureth  forever";  that  He  never  changes.'  Said 
Lincoln:  'I  have  a  little  manuscript  written,  which 
I  will  show  you';  and  he  stated  that  he  thought 
of  having  it  published.  Offering  it  to  me,  he  said  he 
had  never  showed  it  to  any  one,  and  still  thought 
of  having  it  published.  The  size  of  the  manuscript 
was  about  one-half  quire  of  foolscap,  written  in  a  very 
plain  hand,  on  the  subject  of  Christianity  and  a 
defence  of  universal  salvation.  The  commencement 
of  it  was  something  respecting  the  God  of  the  universe 
ever  being  excited,  mad,  or  angry.  I  had  the  manu 
script  in  my  possession  some  week  or  ten  days.  I 
have  read  many  books  on  the  subject  of  theology  and 
I  don't  think  that  in  point  of  perspicuity  and  plainness 
of  reasoning  I  ever  read  one  to  surpass  it.  I  remember 
well  his  argument.  He  took  the  passage,  'As  in 
Adam  all  die,  even  so  in  Christ  shall  all  be  made  alive,' 
and  followed  up  with  the  proposition  that  whatever 
the  breach  or  injury  of  Adam's  transgression  to  the 
human  race  was,  which  no  doubt  was  very  great,  it 
was  made  just  and  right  by  the  atonement  of  Christ. 
As  to  Major  Hill  burning  the  manuscript,  I  don't 
believe  he  did,  nor  do  I  think  he  would  have  done  such 
a  thing.  .  .  . 

1 '  About  the  burning  of  a  paper  by  Hill.  I  have  some 
recollection  of  his  snatching  a  letter  from  Lincoln 
and  putting  it  into  the  fire.  It  was  a  letter  written  by 


What  Religion  Meant  to  Lincoln  307 

Hill  to  McNeil.  His  real  name  was  McNamar. 
Some  of  the  school  children  had  picked  up  the  letter, 
and  handed  it  to  Lincoln.  Hill  and  Lincoln  were 
talking  about  it  when  Hill  snatched  the  letter  from 
Lincoln  and  put  it  in  the  fire.  The  letter  was  respect 
ing  a  young  lady,  Miss  Ann  Rutledge,  for  whom  all 
three  of  these  gentlemen  seemed  to  have  respect. z 
"Yours  truly, 

"MENTER  GRAHAM." 

Now  the  next  point  I  wish  to  notice  is  Mr.  Herndon's 
statement,  in  his  Abbott  letter,  that  Lincoln,  in  1846, 
was  charged  with  being  an  infidel.  Herndon  says  he 
[Lincoln]  did  not  deny  the  charge,  because  it  was  true. 
As  I  before  stated,  I  admit  the  charge  was  made,  and 
I  think  at  the  time  there  was  no  public  denial  by 
Lincoln,  for  the  reason  that  the  canvass  was  made  on 
political  grounds,  and  not  religious  faith  or  belief. 
Nevertheless,  the  charge  was  denied,  as  the  following 
letter  will  show : 

Statement  of  Thomas  Mostiller 

"PLEASANT  PLAINS,  111.,  April  28,  1874. 
"B.  F.  IRWIN: 

"SiR: — In  regard  to  your  inquiry  just  received,  of 

TThe  old-time  use  of  "respect"  means  in  later  years  "in 
love."— H.  B.  R. 


308  Abraham  Lincoln 

what  I  heard  Lincoln  say  about  a  charge  of  infidelity 
made  against  him  when  a  candidate  for  Congress  in 
1846  or  '47,  it  was  this:  I  was  present  and  heard 
Josiah  Grady  ask  Lincoln  a  question  or  two  regarding 
a  charge  made  against  Lincoln  of  being  an  infidel,  and 
Lincoln  unqualifiedly  denied  the  charge  of  infidelity, 
and  said,  in  addition,  his  parents  were  Baptists  and 
brought  him  up  in  the  belief  of  the  Christian  religion ; 
and  that  he  believed  in  the  Christian  religion  as  much 
as  any  one,  but  was  sorry  to  say  he  had  no  preten 
sions  to  religion  himself.  I  can't  give  his  exact  words 
but  would  make  oath  anywhere  that  he  positively 
denied  the  charge  made  against  him  of  infidelity. 
That  was  the  first  time  I  had  ever  heard  of  the  charge 
of  infidelity  against  Lincoln.  Grady  did  not  say  that 
he  would  not  vote  for  Lincoln  if  he  was  an  infidel,  but 
my  understanding  from  Grady  was  that  he  would 
not  vote  for  Lincoln  if  he  was  an  infidel,  and  Grady 
did,  as  I  suppose,  vote  for  him.  I  understood  him 
that  he  should. 

"Respectfully, 

"  THOMAS  MOSTILLER, 
"Menard  Co.,  HI." 

The  next  evidence  I  shall  offer,  is  that  of  Isaac 
Codgal,  an  intimate  friend  of  Lincoln's  from  the  time 
Lincoln  came  to  Salem,  Menard  County,  to  the  time 
he  left  for  Washington  City,  and  I  will  let  Codgal 
speak  for  himself: 


What  Religion  Meant  to  Lincoln  309 

Statement  of  Isaac  Codgal 

"April  10, 1874. 
"B.  F.  IRWIN: 

"Yours  received,  making  inquiries  about  what  I 
heard  Lincoln  say  about  his  religious  belief.  It  is  this, 
as  near  as  I  can  tell  it  and  recollect:  I  think  it 
was  in  1859  that  I  was  in  Lincoln's  office  in  Spring 
field,  and  I  had  a  curiosity  to  know  his  opinions 
or  belief  religiously;  and  I  called  on  him  for  his  faith 
in  the  presence  of  W.  H.  Herndon.  At  least  Herndon 
was  in  the  office  at  the  time.  Lincoln  expressed 
himself  in  about  these  words:  He  did  not  nor  could 
not  believe  in  the  endless  punishment  of  any  one  of  the 
human  race.  He  understood  punishment  for  sin  to 
be  a  Bible  doctrine;  but  that  the  punishment  was 
parental  in  its  object,  aim,  and  design  and  intended 
for  the  good  of  the  offender;  hence  it  must  cease 
when  justice  is  satisfied.  He  added  all  that  was  lost 
by  the  transgression  of  Adam  was  made  good  by  the 
atonement,  all  that  was  lost  by  the  fall  was  made  good 
by  the  sacrifice.  And  he  added  this  remark,  that 
punishment  being  a  provision  of  the  gospel  system, 
he  was  not  sure  but  the  world  would  be  better  off  if 
a  little  more  punishment  was  preached  by  our  min 
isters,  and  not  so  much  pardon  for  sin.  I  then  in  reply 
told  Mr.  Lincoln  he  was  a  sound  Universalist  and 
would  advise  him  to  say  but  little  about  his  belief, 
as  it  was  an  unpopular  doctrine,  though  I  fully  agreed 


310  Abraham  Lincoln 

with  him  in  sentiment.  Lincoln  replied  that  he 
never  took  any  part  in  the  argument  or  discussion 
of  theological  questions.  Much  more  was  said,  but 
the  above  are  the  ideas  as  advanced  by  Lincoln  there. 

"  Respectfully  yours, 

"  ISAAC  CODGAL." 

The  next  witness  I  shall  offer  on  the  subject  is 
Jonathan  Harnett,  of  Pleasant  Plains.  Mr.  Harnett 
is  here.  I  shall  now  furnish  a  statement  over  his 
signature,  as  he  is  present  and  dictates  as  I  write. 
(Note. — I  understood,  as  was  often  the  case  with 
many  very  intelligent  among  the  pioneer  settlers,  Mr. 
Harnett  could  not  write.) 

Mr.  Harnett  says : 

That  in  1858,  a  short  time  after  he  came  to  Illinois, 
he  had  a  curiosity  to  see  Lincoln,  and  went  into  his 
office.  There  were  several  others  in  the  office  that  he 
did  not  know  and  religious  faith  seemed  to  be  the  sub 
ject  of  conversation.  After  some  time  was  spent  in 
the  controversy,  it  seemed  to  be  Lincoln's  time,  and 
in  a  few  words  he  heard  Lincoln  condense  in  a  small 
space  greater  thoughts  and  larger  ideas  and  sounder 
logic  than  he  ever  heard  brought  into  so  small  a  space. 
Lincoln,  he  says,  covered  more  ground  in  a  few 
words,  than  he  could  in  a  week,  and  closed  up  with  the 
restitution  of  all  things  to  God  as  the  doctrine  taught 
in  the  Scriptures.  If  any  one  was  in  doubt  in  regard 


What  Religion  Meant  to  Lincoln  311 

to  Lincoln's  belief  in  the  atonement  of  Christ  and  the 
final  salvation  of  all  men,  he  removed  those  doubts 
in  a  few  questions  he  answered  and  propounded  to 
others.  After  expressing  himself,  some  one  or  two 
took  exceptions  to  his  position,  and  he  asked  a  few 
questions  that  cornered  his  interrogators  and  left  no 
room  to  doubt  or  question  his  soundness  on  the 
atonement  of  Christ,  and  salvation  finally  of  all 
men.  He  did  not  pretend  to  know  just  when  that 
event  would  be  consummated,  but  that  it  would  be 
the  ultimate  result  that  Christ  must  reign  supreme, 
high  over  all,  the  saviour  of  all;  and  the  Supreme 
Ruler,  he  could  not  be  satisfied  with  one  out  of  the 
fold;  all  must  come  in,  was  his  understanding  of  the 
doctrine  taught  in  the  Scriptures.  [The  above  state 
ment,  since  writing  it,  has  been  read  to  Mr.  Harnett 
and  endorsed  by  him.] 

The  next  evidence  I  shall  offer  is  Erasmus  Manford, 
of  Chicago.  About  1850,  he  had  a  debate  in  Spring 
field,  111.,  with  Mr.  Lewis.  In  his  book,  Twenty-five 
Years  in  the  West,  page  219,  he  says:  "I  remember 
well  seeing  Mr.  Lincoln  then  punctually  every  day 
and  every  night.  He  often  nodded  his  head  to  me 
when  I  made  a  strong  point."  Does  that  look  as 
though  Lincoln  was  an  infidel?  Manford  was  dis 
cussing  the  proposition  of  the  restitution  of  all  things 
to  God  which  is  manifested  in  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 
Manford  gives  the  quotation,  chapter  and  verse,  and 


312  Abraham  Lincoln 

Lincoln  nods  assent  to  the  position.  That  nodding 
assent  to  the  restitution  agrees  precisely  with  Mr. 
Harnett's  statement  of  Lincoln's  position  in  his  pre 
sence,  seven  or  eight  years  afterward.  Everyone 
understands  that  nodding  assent  to  the  argument  of  a 
speaker  is  an  endorsement  of  what  is  said,  and  about 
the  equivalent  to  speaking  it  yourself.  Manford  so 
understood  it;  and  so  anyone  would  understand  it. 

What  has  been  recorded  already  in  this  chapter 
concerning  what  religion  meant  to  Abraham 
Lincoln  is  justly  liable  to  criticism  as  being 
desultory  and  fragmentary.  It  is,  however,  en 
tirely  consistent  with  the  statement  made  at  the 
very  outset  that  it  was  not  my  purpose  in  recording 
these  recollections  of  Lincoln  to  write  a  connected 
history  of  any  portion  of  his  life,  or  a  systematic 
analysis  of  his  opinions  or  principles.  It  was 
proposed  merely  to  put  on  record  some  material 
facts  furnished  by  these  flashlights  of  my  memory, 
that  might  assist  the  future  historian  to  gain 
a  clearer  vision  of  Lincoln's  life  during  the 
period  covered  by  my  own  personal  acquaint 
ance  and  that  of  the  friends  from  whom  I 
quote,  whose  statements  about  him  and  past 
events  and  persons  were  not  drafts  on  their 
imagination  for  the  facts  and  incidents  presented 
by  me. 


What  Religion  Meant  to  Lincoln  313 

There  were  times  in  the  privacy  of  the  home 
life  or  in  an  interview  with  a  friend  in  the  office, 
when  Lincoln  spoke  freely  of  what  religion  meant 
to  him.  Such  times,  however,  were  not  frequent. 
They  were  rare  occasions.  He  did  not  wear  his 
religion  as  a  personal  exhibit  on  his  sleeve,  as  some 
have  done.  He  lived  his  religion.  It  was  a 
constant,  pervasive  part  of  the  man,  but  he  was 
averse  to  advertising  it  and  never  used  it  for 
purposes  of  display.  Mrs.  Lincoln  said:  "Mr. 
Lincoln's  religion  was  poetry ! ' '  She  was  probably 
correct.  If  so,  it  was  of  an  idealism  akin  to  those 
who  "do  always  behold  the  face  of  my  Father  in 
Heaven." 

The  religion  of  Lincoln  was  so  intermingled  and 
incorporated  with  the  other  elements  of  his  unique 
personality  as  to  defy  complete  analysis,  or 
description.  No  stranger  touch,  outside  himself, 
can  reveal  his  religion  in  other  than  a  fragmentary 
and  desultory  manner.  Its  evidence  was  dis 
tributed  throughout  all  his  life,  and  was  disclosed 
in  a  manner  so  intermittent  and  recurrent  as  to 
render  orderly  delineation  of  it  impossible.  The 
most  that  can  be  undertaken  in  this  chapter  is  to 
present  the  religious  features  of  his  life  in  their 
every-day  settings,  as  the  writer  and  some  others 
knew  them  from  time  to  time ;  and  to  do  this  with- 


314  Abraham  Lincoln 

• 
out   any  attempt  to  systematize,   interpret,   or 

colour  them,  through  a  memory  lens,  into  any 
systematic  connection  with  each  other  or  to  bring 
them  into  harmony  with  any  personal  shades  of 
opinion  or  belief  on  these  subjects  of  my  own. 

It  is  with  regret  and  reluctance  that  I  find  it 
necessary  to  present  so  many  statements  that 
depend  upon  my  own  testimony  and  that  of  my 
family,  not  only  for  the  facts  but  for  the  words 
in  which  they  are  repeated.  This  has  been  un 
avoidable  hitherto,  and  will  be  even  more  necessary 
in  the  private  interviews  about  to  be  narrated. 
On  the  occasions  when  Lincoln  expressed  so  freely 
his  religious  beliefs  it  was  never  intended  or 
expected  by  him,  or  those  present,  that  they 
would  pass  beyond  the  circle  within  which  the 
conversations  took  place.  But  since  then  Lin 
coln's  life  and  character  have  loomed  so  large  upon 
the  field  of  our  country's  life  and  history,  as  to 
render  whatever  he  said  or  did,  even  in  privacy,  a 
matter  of  such  public  interest  and  importance  as 
to  overrule  the  courtesy  of  that  silence  which  was 
his  due  while  living. 

In  recent  years  it  has  become  recognized  as  the 
patriotic  duty  of  those  who  knew  him  to  reveal 
all  that  their  memory  may  retain  regarding  his 


What  Religion  Meant  to  Lincoln  315 

personality  and  life,  for  the  use  of  the  future 
historian.  History  awaits  and  recognizes  every 
assistance  that  can  come  from  those  whose  op 
portunities  and  privilege  it  was  to  know  Lincoln 
with  any  degree  of  intimacy,  and  this  revealing 
of  him  is  cordially  welcomed  and  highly  prized 
by  a  nation  of  his  admirers.  This  should  be 
contributed  freely  and  fully,  and  without  the 
hesitation  or  restraint  that  should  ordinarily  be 
observed  in  private  life  in  respect  to  intimate  and 
confidential  interchange  of  religious  beliefs  and 
ideals.  With  this  explanation  I  shall  venture  to  set 
forth  some  of  the  more  private  episodes  of  Lincoln's 
life,  more  personal  and  intimate  than  any  related 
before,  dealing  with  what  religion  meant  to  him. 

Abraham  Lincoln  when  nine  years  old  met  his 
first  great  grief  in  the  death  of  his  mother.  Her 
illness  was  a  brief  one,  compared  with  most  others 
who  suffered  with  the  disease  with  which  she  is 
said  to  have  been  afflicted.  The  rude  cabin 
home  where  she  spent  these  last  days  was  thirty- 
five  miles  from  the  nearest  doctor,  and  it  is  said 
that  no  medical  aid  was  given  during  the  seven 
days  of  her  illness  other  than  the  friendly  nursing 
of  the  doctor-woman,  who,  in  those  primitive 
times,  was  found  in  nearly  every  neighbourhood. 


316  Abraham  Lincoln 

• 
Of  what  passed  between  mother  and  son  during 

the  few  years  preceding  her  decease  there  is  little 
known.  The  few  references  to  them  made  by 
Lincoln  in  private  conversation  with  friends  at 
different  periods  in  his  life  give  all  that  we  have. 
We  learn  from  his  words  how  vividly  he  recog 
nized,  and  recalled  with  generous  tenderness,  the 
deep  and  lasting  impressions  those  nine  years  of 
mother-love  had  made  on  him.  From  more  than 
one  friend  I  have  heard  of  Lincoln's  remarking 
that  he  owed  all  he  was,  or  ever  would  be,  to  the 
inspiration  so  early  instilled  into  his  mind  by  his 
mother.  The  isolation  of  their  home  made  their 
companionship  in  every  way  closer  than  is  usual 
between  mother  and  son.  Her  memory  should 
ever  be  held  in  sacred  reverence  for  the  influence 
she  had  on  the  life  she  gave  our  country,  even 
though,  as  her  son  said  after  he  attained  national 
prominence,  those  years  had  for  their  only  record, 
"the  plain  and  simple  annals  of  the  poor." 

In  my  boyhood  days,  I  was  present  once  when 
Lincoln  spoke  of  his  mother  with  a  strong  affec 
tion  which  I  have  always  remembered.  At  that 
time  I  was  little  more  than  the  age  of  Lincoln 
when  his  mother  died.  I  recall  the  time  and 
circumstances  of  that  evening's  visit  at  our  home, 


What  Religion  Meant  to  Lincoln  317 

the  peculiarity  of  his  manner  as  well,  but  could 
not  have  been  able  to  mention  the  substance  of 
what  he  said  there,  as  I  now  do,  had  it  not  been 
through  my  mother's  memory  of  it,  and  her 
statements  to  me  of  what  was  said.  This  con 
versation  was  related  to  me  in  the  summer  of 
1889,  while  my  mother  was  reading  the  Herndon- 
Weik  Life  of  Lincoln,  then  just  published,  in  con 
nection  with  her  second  reading,  for  comparison, 
of  the  Life  of  Lincoln,  by  Lamon,  published  in 
1874.  My  mother  possessed  a  very  tenacious 
verbal  memory.  Her  ability  to  recall  accurately 
the  events,  conversations,  and  personalities  of 
her  past  life  was  remarkable.  She  was  intensely 
interested  at  that  time  in  her  reading  of  those 
two  lives  of  Lincoln,  but  was  both  surprised  and 
indignant  over  certain  parts  of  them. 

Without  here  entering  into  the  details  of  her 
criticisms  of  their  inaccuracy,  or  as  she  said,  "the 
imaginary  history  of  some  imaginary  events  and 
persons"  in  those  books,  I  shall  relate  her  account 
of  one  particularly  interesting  conversation  that 
took  place  at  our  home  in  Petersburg,  and  which 
reveals  how  absurd  is  the  word  "infidel"  when 
applied  to  Lincoln.  This  was  the  occasion  to 
which  I  have  referred  before  as  making  such  a 
lasting  impression  on  me.  This  was  because  of 


3i 8  Abraham  Lincoln 

• 
Lincoln's  emotional  manner  at  the  time,  a  manner 

which  I  had  never  before  seen  him  manifest.  I 
was  so  impressed  by  my  recollection  of  this,  and 
by  the  conversation  as  she  repeated  it  to  me, 
that  at  the  time  I  wrote  down  from  her  rehearsal 
the  substance  of  what  she  recalled  of  Lincoln's 
words,  and  I  record  them  here  together  with  the 
circumstances  that  called  them  forth. 

Lincoln  was  attending  the  circuit  court  in 
Petersburg  at  the  time  referred  to.  Mother 
thought  it  was  in  June,  1846,  for  it  was  soon  after 
his  nomination,  by  the  Whigs  in  May  of  1846,  as 
their  candidate  for  Congress.  Lincoln  was  at 
my  parents'  home  spending  the  evening.  The 
Rev.  J.  F.  Jacquess  was  also  present.  He  was  the 
Methodist  minister  on  the  Petersburg  circuit  that 
year,  and  made  his  home  at  my  father's  when 
not  out  of  town  on  the  circuit.  Jacquess  came  of  a 
vigorous  frontier  ancestry.  His  youth  and  early 
manhood  were  full  of  strenuous  toil.  He  was  ten 
years  younger  than  Lincoln;  a  graduate  of  the 
Indiana  University,  and  of  the  Transylvania  Uni 
versity  College  of  Law  of  Lexington,  Kentucky. 
A  warm  personal  friendship  had  been  growing  up 
between  Lincoln  and  Jacquess  ever  since  the  lat 
ter  had  come  to  Illinois.  This  continued  during 
Lincoln's  life,  and  while  he  was  President,  Jacquess 


What  Religion  Meant  to  Lincoln  319 

was  intrusted  by  him  with  a  confidential  mission 
to  Richmond  which  proved  of  great  importance 
at  the  time.  The  circumstances  that  made  this 
mission  desirable  and  the  results  of  the  conference 
have  been  told  fully  by  writers  on  both  the  Federal 
and  Confederate  sides  since  the  close  of  the  war, 
making  unnecessary  any  extended  mention  here  of 
that  remarkable  visit,  or  of  its  failure  to  accomplish 
the  results  Jacquess  so  fondly  expected  it  would. 

The  week  before  this  meeting  at  my  father's 
home  there  had  been  held  in  Petersburg  a  conven 
tion  of  Sunday-school  workers, — the  first  ever 
held  in  that  portion  of  Illinois.  Strange  as  it  may 
appear  now,  many  good  people  then  contended 
that  there  should  be  no  infant  class  below  six  or 
eight  years  of  age  in  a  Sunday-school.  One  of 
the  subjects  under  lively  discussion  before  the 
convention  was  the  fixing  of  the  age  limit  for 
"moral  accountability"  of  scholars  which  would 
determine  when  they  should  enter  the  Sunday 
school.  In  the  convention  Jacquess  and  my 
father~had  contended  that  there  should  be  no 
limit  in  age,  or  even  in  ability  to  read;  that  oral 
teaching  could  and  should  meet  the  needs  of  all 
who  would  come  into  these  schools.  Out  of  the 
warmth  of  such  recent  discussions,  the  evening 


320  Abraham  Lincoln 

• 
conversation  for  a  while  had  centered  upon  the 

same  question. 

Lincoln's  opinion  was  asked  for  by  my  mother. 
He  replied  that  he  was  not  an  authority  in  such 
matters;  that  there  were  no  such  schools  in  his 
childhood,  and  that  he  had  never  attended  a 
Sunday-school  except  by  request  to  make  a  short 
address.  But  the  age  limit,  he  thought,  should 
find  no  place  in  any  Sunday-school.  He  might 
illustrate  this,  he  said,  by  mention  of  his  own  boy 
hood  and  the  influence  that  biblical  and  moral  in 
struction  given  in  early  years  could,  and  did,  have 
in  his  life.  He  said  he  was  nine  years  old  when 
his  mother  died;  that  his  instruction  by  her  in 
letters  and  morals,  and  especially  the  Bible 
stories,  and  the  interest  and  love  he  acquired  in 
reading  the  Bible  through  this  teaching  of  his 
mother,  had  been  the  strongest  and  most  influential 
experience  in  his  life.  He  referred  with  evident 
sadness  to  the  lonely  months  after  his  mother's 
death,  and  said  that  the  Bible  she  had  read,  and 
had  taught  him  to  read,  was  the  greatest  comfort 
he  and  his  sister  had  after  their  mother  was  gone. 
It  was  from  this  Bible  of  her's,  he  said,  that  he  had 
asked  Rev.  David  Elkin  to  read  when  he  came 
into  their  home  to  preach  the  funeral  sermon  of  his 
mother  several  months  after  her  death. 


What  Religion  Meant  to  Lincoln  321 

Lincoln  continued  speaking  of  the  vividness  of 
childhood's  impressions  and  how  potent  they  were 
to  influence  and  control  mature  years.  He  re 
called  how  his  mother  had  interested  him  in 
Bible  stories  before  he  had  learned  to  read.  He 
said  that  for  years  afterwards,  and  even  yet,  when 
he  read  certain  verses  which  he  had  in  early  boy 
hood  committed  to  memory  by  hearing  her  repeat 
them  as  she  went  about  her  household  tasks,  the 
tones  of  his  mother's  voice  would  come  to  him 
and  he  would  seem  to  hear  her  speak  those  verses 
again. 

My  mother  said  that  this  unusual  freedom  with 
which  he  had  referred  to  his  early  years,  and  the 
emotion  he  had  manifested  as  he  dwelt  on  them, 
caused  her  to  refer  to  his  life  at  Salem.  This 
conversation,  as  I  have  said,  was  in  the  summer  of 
1846,  when  Lincoln  and  Peter  Cartwright  were 
candidates  of  opposing  parties  for  Congress,  and 
when  Cartwright's  friends,  with  his  approval, 
had  made  the  charge  that  Lincoln  was  an  infidel. 
This  assertion,  and  the  bitter  partisan  energy 
with  which  the  report  was  circulated  at  the  time, 
had  greatly  disturbed  my  mother  who  through 
many  years  had  entertained  a  warm  friendship 
for  both  of  them.  This  regard  was,  from  long 


21 


322  Abraham  Lincoln 

acquaintance  and  friendship,  one  of  personal 
esteem  and  not  a  political  preference  for  either. 
She  was  aware  how  false  this  unqualified  charge 
against  Lincoln  was,  and  she  grieved  because 
Cartwright  had  yielded  to  political  influences  and 
motives  in  making  so  false  an  assertion. 

She  therefore  felt  at  liberty  to  inquire  of  Lincoln 
how  much  his  opinions  on  religious  subjects  had 
been  influenced  by  his  sceptical  associates  at 
Salem,  and  by  the  books  they  had  supplied  him 
with  while  there.  She  introduced  her  inquiry 
by  referring  to  several  discussions  that  had  taken 
place  years  before  at  her  father's  home  between 
Lincoln  and  her  brothers  in  connection  with  his 
frequent  visits.  She  made  a  more  especial  ref 
erence  to  the  conversation  that  took  place  one 
evening  when  Lincoln,  Dr.  Gershom  Jayne,  of 
Springfield,  and  Rev.  John  Berry  were  storm-bound 
one  wintry  day  and  remained  overnight  at  the 
Rogers  home. 

My  mother  said  that  Lincoln  listened  very 
attentively  while  she  was  making  reference  to  these 
visits  and  to  his  past  life  at  Salem;  and  when — 
in  connection  with  such  references  to  the  past — 
she  noticed  that  he  was  deeply  moved  by  her 
inquiry,  at  the  moment  she  almost  regretted  ask 
ing  him  the  questions.  ...  He  rose  from  his 


What  Religion  Meant  to  Lincoln  323 

chair  where  he  had  been  sitting  and  walked  slowly 
across  the  room  and  stood  at  one  end  of  the 
hearth,  at  the  side  of  the  chimney  breast  before 
the  old-fashioned  fire-place.  He  rested  an  elbow 
on  the  wide  mantel,  leaning  his  head  on  his  hand, 
with  the  long  fingers  thrust  through  his  hair. 
Although  so  young  at  the  time,  I  clearly  recall 
the  peculiarity  of  his  manner  and  the  pose  of  his 
body,  as  he  stood  there,  facing  those  in  the  room 
in  silence  for  a  few  moments.  Then  he  began  to 
speak  quite  slowly,  and  with  a  most  impressive 
emphasis.  My  mother  reports  his  words  as 
follows : 

Mrs.  Rankin,  you  have  asked  me  a  question  opening 
up  a  subject  that  is  being  thrust  into  this  Congressional 
campaign  and  which  I  have  resolved  to  ignore.  It  is 
one  having  no  proper  place,  or  call  for  an  answer  by 
me,  in  the  political  present  or  future  before  us.  I 
will  not  discuss  the  character  and  religion  of  Jesus 
Christ  on  the  stump!  That  is  no  place  for  it,  though 
my  opponent,  a  minister  of  His  gospel,  thinks  it  is. 
But  in  this  private  circle  of  friends,  with  the  inquiry 
coming  from  you,  Mrs.  Rankin,  who  have  known  me 
as  long  as  any  of  my  Salem  friends,  and  in  some 
respects  more  intimately  than  any  of  them,  I  will 
frankly  answer  your  question.  I  do  not  wish  what 
I  may  say  here  now  to  be  quoted  in  this  Congressional 


324  Abraham  Lincoln 

canvass  to  any  one,  and  I  am  sure  that  I  can  depend 
that  every  one  of  you  will  respect  my  wishes.  [This 
they  did.] 

At  the  time  you  refer  to  [continued  Mr.  Lincoln], 
I  was  having  serious  questionings  about  some 
portions  of  my  former  implicit  faith  in  the  Bible. 
The  influence  that  drew  me  into  such  doubts  were 
strong  ones, — men  having  the  widest  culture  and 
strongest  minds  of  any  I  had  known  up  to  that  time. 
In  the  midst  of  those  shadows  and  questionings, 
before  I  could  see  my  way  clear  to  decide  on  them, 
there  came  into  my  life  sad  events  and  a  loss  that  you 
were  close  to  and  you  knew  a  great  deal  about  how 
hard  they  were  for  me,  for  you  were,  at  the  time,  a 
mutual  friend.  Those  days  of  trouble  found  me 
tossed  amidst  a  sea  of  questionings.  They  piled  big 
upon  me,  experiences  that  brought  with  them  great 
strains  upon  my  emotional  and  mental  life.  Through 
all  I  groped  my  way  until  I  found  a  stronger  and 
higher  grasp  of  thought,  one  that  reached  beyond 
this  life  with  a  clearness  and  satisfaction  I  had  never 
known  before.  The  Scriptures  unfolded  before  me 
with  a  deeper  and  more  logical  appeal,  through  these 
new  experiences,  than  anything  else  I  could  find  to 
turn  to,  or  ever  before  had  found  in  them. 

I  do  not  claim  that  all  my  doubts  were  removed 
then,  or  since  that  time  have  been  swept  away.  They 
are  not.  Probably  it  is  to  be  my  lot  to  go  on  in  a 


What  Religion  Meant  to  Lincoln  325 

twilight,  feeling  and  reasoning  my  way  through  life, 
as  questioning,  doubting  Thomas  did.  But  in  my 
poor  maimed,  withered  way,  I  bear  with  me  as  I  go 
on  a  seeking  spirit  of  desire  for  a  faith  that  was  with 
him  of  the  olden  time,  who,  in  his  need,  as  I  in  mine, 
exclaimed:  "Help  thou  my  unbelief." 

I  do  not  see  [he  went  on  to  say,  after  leaving  his 
position  on  the  hearth  and  resuming  his  former  seat], 
I  do  not  see  that  I  am  more  astray — though  perhaps 
in  a  different  direction — than  many  others  whose 
points  of  view  differ  widely  from  each  other  in  the 
sectarian  denominations.  They  all  claim  to  be  Chris 
tian,  and  interpret  their  several  creeds  as  infallible 
ones.  Yet  they  differ  and  discuss  these  question 
able  subjects  without  settling  them  with  any  mutual 
satisfaction  among  themselves. 

I  doubt  the  possibility,  or  propriety,  of  settling  the 
religion  of  Jesus  Christ  in  the  models  of  man-made 
creeds  and  dogmas.  It  was  a  spirit  in  the  life  that 
He  laid  stress  on  and  taught,  if  I  read  aright.  I  know 
I  see  it  to  be  so  with  me. 

The  fundamental  truths  reported  in  the  four  gospels 
as  from  the  lips  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  that  I  first  heard 
from  the  lips  of  my  mother,  are  settled  and  fixed 
moral  precepts  with  me.  I  have  concluded  to  dismiss 
from  my  mind  the  debatable  wrangles  that  once 
perplexed  me  with  distractions  that  stirred  up,  but 
never  absolutely  settled  anything.  I  have  tossed 


326  Abraham  Lincoln 

them  aside  with  the  doubtful  differences  which  divide 
denominations, — sweeping  them  all  out  of  my  mind 
among  the  non-essentials.  I  have  ceased  to  follow 
such  discussions  or  be  interested  in  them. 

I  cannot  without  mental  reservations  assent  to 
long  and  complicated  creeds  and  catechisms.  If  the 
church  would  ask  simply  for  assent  to  the  Saviour's 
statement  of  the  substance  of  the  law:  "Thou  shalt 
love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with 
all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind,  and  thy  neighbour 
as  thyself," — that  church  would  I  gladly  unite  with. 

The  conversation  passed  on  to  other  matters, 
and  it  was  late  when  Lincoln  left  to  return  to  the 
hotel.  Mr.  Jacquess  went  with  him.  It  was  not 
until  the  small  hours  of  the  morning,  my  mother 
said,  that  Jacquess  returned.  At  breakfast  next 
morning,  when  I  was  present,  I  recall  Jacquess 
saying  he  had  never  had  so  interesting  an  inter 
view  as  that  with  Lincoln  the  evening  before ;  that 
Lincoln  had  insisted  on  his  going  in  with  him  to 
the  hotel,  where  they  had  spent  a  couple  of  hours 
talking  on  national  and  social  affairs.  He  said 
the  acquaintance  he  had  formed  with  Lincoln 
had  been  a  most  profitable  one  to  him  and  that  he 
wished  to  see  more  of  him  whenever  possible  and 
get  his  practical  vision  of  life.  He  said  Lincoln 
had  an  insight  into  the  common  people's  life  and 


What  Religion  Meant  to  Lincoln  327 

needs,  and  how  to  meet  them,  which  as  a  minister 
he  must  get  hold  of. 

My  mother  asked  if  there  had  been  any  refer 
ence  to  the  religious  views  spoken  of  by  Lincoln 
the  evening  before.  Jacquess  replied,  "None  at 
all,"  and  he  went  on  to  say  that  he  could  see 
nothing  in  Lincoln's  views  on  religious  subjects 
more  sceptical  than  any  active  inquiring  mind 
would  be  apt  to  have  and  that  would  be  helpful  in 
passing  through  life,  and  he  felt  sure  that  Lincoln 
would  safely  do  so.  He  said  that  "Uncle  Peter" 
(Cartwright)  was  making  no  less  a  political  than 
theological  mistake  in  putting  up  against  such  a 
man  as  Lincoln  the  issue  of  "infidel"  in  a  political 
canvass  having  no  religious  issues  connected  with 
it  to  advance  or  assail.  "He  cannot  make  it 
stick,  and  it  will  react  against  him,  and  be  his 
sure  defeat  if  he  persists  in  it."  And  so  it  was. 

This  private  conversation  of  Lincoln's,  as  here 
given,  is  not  claimed  to  be  in  the  exact  words. 
But  these  words  give  the  substance  of  what  he 
said,  as  literally  as  my  mother's  excellent  memory 
had  retained  them  in  1889,  when  I  wrote  them 
down  from  her  dictation ;  and  she  carefully  revised 
them  afterwards.  I  believe  the  discerning  student 
of  Lincolnian  sentences  will  find  these  to  have  some 
of  the  private  and  peculiar  stamp  of  Lincoln's 


Abraham  Lincoln 


style  which  no  stranger  pen  could  imitate,  —  and 
certainly,  this  mother  or  her  son  would  not  under 
take,  knowingly,  such  counterfeiting  or  simulation. 
To  test  the  accuracy  of  this  report  of  Lincoln's 
sentences,  I  submitted  them  to  Colonel  Jacquess 
the  next  time  we  met.  We  had  not  seen  each 
other  since  1862,  when  he  resigned  his  presidency 
of  a  college  to  accept  a  commission  as  colonel  of  the 
73d  Regiment  of  Illinois  Volunteers  from  Governor 
Yates,  who  made  this  appointment  on  the  special 
request  of  President  Lincoln.  This  meeting  was 
in  June,  1897,  and  proved  to  be  our  last,  for  he 
died  at  St.  Paul,  Minnesota,  June  17,  1898.  He 
carefully  read  the  manuscript  here  reproduced,— 
some  parts  of  it  several  times.  He  said  that  he 
could  neither  add  to  nor  take  anything  from  it; 
that  her  account  was  correct,  and  that  reading  it 
recalled  most  vividly  to  his  mind  those  first 
meetings  with  Lincoln.  He  further  said  that  his 
acquaintance  and  the  various  interesting  conversa 
tions  with  Lincoln  were  the  most  remarkable  and 
helpful  influences  that  had  come  into  his  life. 
He  spoke  of  how  the  meeting,  of  which  I  have 
given  this  account,  was  supplemented  by  many 
others  he  had  with  Lincoln  the  next  year,  when  he 
was  stationed  at  Springfield  as  pastor  of  the  First 
Methodist  Church. 


The  Real  Lincoln  in  Portraits  and 
Photographs 


329 


TO    A    PORTRAIT    OF   ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

Thy  rugged  features  more  heroic  are 

Than  chiselled  outlines  of  some  godlike  Greek; 
Thy  steadfast  lips  more  eloquent  did  speak 

Than  lips  of  orators  renowned  afar; 

While  gentle  wit  and  tolerance  of  folly, 
And  human  sympathies  and  love  of  right 
Shone  never  more  kind  and  steady  light 

Than  from  the  cavern  of  thy  melancholy. 

0  prophet  sorrowful,  did  thy  deep  eyes 

Foresee  and  sweep  thy  country's  agonies? 
And  did  thy  lonely  heart  foreread  thy  doom 
To  give  thy  brow  such  majesty  of  gloom? 

Ah,  hadst  thou  seen  the  end,  thou  still  hadst  led 

Thy  people  with  the  same  unwavering  tread ! 

EDITH  COLBY  BANFIELD. 


330 


XV 

THE  REAL  LINCOLN  IN  PORTRAITS  AND  PHOTOGRAPHS 

MUCH  difference  of  opinion  is  current  regarding 
the  accuracy  of  photographs  and  portraits  of 
Lincoln.  These  are  to  be  henceforth  the  only 
record  preserved  of  the  lineaments  of  his  expres 
sive,  but  most  changeful,  countenance.  To  me 
this  does  not  seem  difficult  to  account  for.  He  was 
not  less  like  other  men  in  his  physical  build,  or  the 
expression  of  the  fixed  features  of  his  face,  when 
that  was  at  repose,  than  in  the  strange  illumination 
that  lit  up  the  whole  outer  man  when  his  mental 
and  spiritual  manhood  was  aroused  to  action. 

He  was  the  most  unlike  all  men  of  his  time — 
or  even  of  all  times — in  the  transformation  at  such 
moments  when  aroused  by  the  intense  thoughts 
and  feelings  that  seized  and  controlled  his  whole 
personality.  In  the  words  of  Herndon:  "He 
was  odd,  but  when  that  grey  eye  and  that  face 
and  those  features  were  lit  up  by  the  inward  soul 
in  fires  of  emotion,  then  it  was  that  all  the  apparent 

ugly  features  sprang  into  organs  of  beauty,  or 

331 


332  Abraham  Lincoln 

disappeared  in  the  sea  of  inspiration  that  flooded 
his  face.  Sometimes  it  appeared  as  if  Lincoln 
was  fresh  from  the  hands  of  his  Creator." 

I  shall  endeavour  here  to  represent  the  per 
sonality  of  Lincoln  as  shown  by  his  appearance 
when  in  full  mental  and  emotional  activity,  in  the 
delivery  of  two  speeches,  so  as  to  explain,  in  a 
degree,  what  appears  to  account  for  the  unsatis 
factory  impression  the  various  photographs  and 
portraits  make  on  many  who  never  met  him,  and 
even  on  those  who  were  passingly  familiar  with 
his  private  and  public  appearance  while  a  resident 
of  Springfield. 

All  his  photographs  are  unsatisfactory,  or  only 
partially  successful  as  portraits  of  the  real  Lincoln, 
to  those  who  knew  him  as  he  appeared  in  his  most 
earnestly  delivered  speeches,  or  in  intense,  almost 
inspired  moments  of  private  conversation.  He 
had  at  such  times  an  indefinable  distinction  of 
character  entirely  his  own.  This  peculiarity  of 
personality  has  been  shown  only  within  restricted 
limitation  by  any,  or  all,  of  his  photographs. 
They  are  only  shadowy  presentments  of  the  outer 
man.  You  see  the  outline  in  them  as  you  see 
our  battleships  at  rest,  and  from  the  outside. 
The  man,  the  inner  Abraham  Lincoln  in  action 


In  Portraits  and  Photographs     333 

t> 

behind  the  guns,  is  not  revealed  in  any  photo 
graph.  On  occasion  he  arose  from  within  himself, 
and  through  his  seamed  and  battle-scarred  visage 
something  from  his  inner  life,  and  more  than  any 
of  these  prints  or  portraits  show,  lit  up  the  outer 
visage  of  the  man,  startling  the  beholder  as  pro 
phetic  in  its  intensity,  when  his  inner  power  and 
grandeur  revealed  itself.  There  was  a  deep  con 
viction  among  many  of  his  friends,  at  such  times, 
which  singled  him  out  as  destined  for  some  great 
purpose,  hidden  alike  from  him  and  from  them. 

Lincoln,  while  living,  was  a  favourite  subject 
for  cartoonists  in  a  large  variety  of  distorted 
caricatures.  Photographers  were  equally  active 
to  preserve  his  shadow  by  their  art.  To  the 
latter,  Lincoln  was  a  most  unsatisfactory  subject. 
He  was  never  at  his  ease  before  the  camera.  He 
remarked  this  on  several  occasions  when  proofs 
were  sent  to  the  office  for  approval.  Lincoln 
himself  never  would  make  any  choice  from  these. 
The  office  critics  at  his  suggestion  were  directed 
to  select  the  ones  *  'least  objectionable." 

The  photographic  art  previous  to  1861  was  not 
one  of ' '  snap  shots, ' '  but  required ' '  counting  time ' ' 
by  the  operator,  who  waited  watch  in  hand,  to 
fix  the  shadow.  Under  such  circumstances  Lin- 


334  Abraham  Lincoln 

coin  was  always  a  poor  "sitter."  So  patent  was 
this,  that  I  recall  that  Mrs.  Lincoln,  when  on  a 
hurried  call  at  the  office  once,  where  some  matter 
was  put  to  Lincoln  that  puzzled  him  in  a  way  to 
control  temporarily  the  usual  expression  on  his 
face,  said  sharply,  "Mr.  Lincoln,  you  look  like  you 
were  having  your  picture  taken."  He  joined 
in  the  laugh  that  followed  as  heartily  as  any  of  us. 
Artists  should  not  depend  on  photographs  of 
Lincoln  as  being  anything  more  than  suggestive 
shadows  of  him  in  outline.  They  are  entirely 
wanting  in  Lincoln's  forceful  expressiveness  of 
countenance. 

Passing  to  descriptive  writings  about  Lincoln's 
appearance  and  peculiarities,  published  since  his 
death,  they  will  be  found  to  give  views  of  him 
equally  misleading.  Writers  of  sensational  bio 
graphy  and  fiction,  in  their  many  pages,  have  done 
their  worst  and  exhausted  the  resources  of  historic 
fiction  to  write  him  down  to  their  level,  and  to  the 
level  of  persons  and  associates  among  whom  he 
lived,  but  to  whom  he  never  belonged, — never  was 
one  of  them  in  active  sympathy. 

No  wonder  artists  who  sincerely  wish  to  pre 
serve  by  life-revealing  statuary  the  strong  per 
sonality  and  peculiar  pose  of  this  great  man  find 


In  Portraits  and  Photographs     335 

themselves  in  the  midst  of  peculiar  difficulties. 
Nor  is  the  effort  of  the  portrait  painter  less  difficult 
and  perplexing  to  portray  his  strong  individuality 
on  canvas.  Inquiry  has  often  come  to  me,  from 
artists  who  never  saw  Lincoln,  regarding  the  pose 
of  his  large  body  and  the  expression  on  his  change 
ful  features  that  would  present  him  most  naturally 
and  life-like.  I  have  usually  replied  by  asking 
for  the  picture  of  him  that  had  historically  be 
come  impressed  upon  their  minds.  The  composite 
reply  of  many  artists  could  be  summarized  as  an 
unfortunate  committal  to  the  view  that  Lincoln 
was  a  man  of  shambling  gait,  a  body  loosely  hung 
together,  uncertain  how  to  place  his  feet  and  legs, 
and  holding  his  hands  and  arms  so  as  to  appear 
at  reposeful  ease;  that  he  had  constantly  an 
apologetic  stoop  of  his  shoulders,  an  ill-fitting 
neck  that  seemed  embarrassed  how  to  incline 
so  as  to  best  fit  on  his  chest,  or  carry  his  woe 
begone  face  and  head  with  its  crown  of  bushy 
hair. 

The  facial  appearance  which  they  seemed  to  have 
decided  upon  for  him,  as  they  described  it  to  me, 
could  be  represented  by  some  half  a  dozen  photo 
graphs; — all  of  them,  at  best,  shadowy  outlines, 
dull,  leaden,  blank,  silent  faces, — expressionless 
of  this  man  whose  features  when  in  mental  activity 


Abraham  Lincoln 

were,  of  all  things  about  him,  his  crowning 
strength,  and  the  most  life-revealing  part  of  him, 
even  more  so  than  the  words  he  spoke.  There  is 
a  large  opportunity  for  such  artists  to  do  some 
honest  and  thorough  forgetting  and  sponging  out 
of  their  artistic  imaginations  much  in  their  visions 
of  the  personal  appearance  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 
They  need  to  get  nearer  Lincoln  and  with  an  open 
mind  make  a  broad  and  loving  study  of  his  real 
life.  After  all  this  has  been  done,  still  his  peculiar 
personality  will  require  of  the  artist  the  gift  of 
genius,  as  well  as  thorough  technical  skill,  to 
produce  truthful  results. 

There  is  as  distinctive  and  royal  a  personality  of 
Lincoln  for  artists  to  reveal  in  their  sphere  and  by 
their  art,  as  there  has  been  revealed  by  Lincoln 
himself  through  his  letters,  speeches,  and  state 
papers  of  his  literary  personality  through  those 
strong  sentences  he  produced  in  such  vigour  of 
thought  and  simplicity  and  clearness  of  style  as 
to  be  so  intelligible  to  all.  These  masterpieces 
from  his  pen  have  been  accorded  an  abiding  place 
among  the  models  of  purest  English. 

There  is  certainly  a  great  reward  awaiting  the 
artist  who  can  so  study  Lincoln  as  to  reproduce, 
and  permanently  preserve  for  all  future  time,  his 
commanding  presence  in  the  dignity  and  compos- 


In  Portraits  and  Photographs     337 

ure  manifested  by  him  on  public  occasions.  The 
severe  and  honest  study  of  Lincoln  from  the  many- 
sided  angles  his  life  presented, — mental  and 
emotional, — as  well  as  of  his  tall,  muscular,  well- 
knit  body, — all  these  elements,  blending  as  they 
did  so  peculiarly  in  his  personality,  are  ne 
cessary  to  be  kept  in  view  by  them  to  enable 
them  to  reproduce,  in  any  statue  or  portrait, 
results  that  would  adequately  represent  him. 
The  artist  who  does  this  must  have  loved  him  and 
lived  through  laborious  days  in  close  and  sym 
pathetic  study  of  his  inner  personal  life,  and  of  the 
public  affairs  that  engrossed  the  attention  and 
absorbed  the  steadfast  purposefulness  of  Abraham 
Lincoln  throughout  his  eventful  life. 

The  statue  or  portrait  of  Abraham  Lincoln  that 
will  truly  express  his  unique  personality,  how 
ever,  cannot  be  one  showing  restfulness  or  repose. 
He  was  not  such  a  man.  Every  part  of  Lincoln's 
body  betokened  readiness, — a  man  of  action, — an 
alert,  a  living,  watchful,  sensitive,  seeing  person 
ality  ready  for  service.  There  was  in  his  whole  pre 
sence,  when  he  arose  from  within  to  active  mental 
and  emotional  occasions,  an  alertness,  a  poise  of  the 
entire  man,  as  if  every  part  of  his  being  contributed 
to  act  harmoniously,  and  was  springing  up  and 
forward  into  the  thoughts  and  purposes  of  those 


338  Abraham  Lincoln 

• 

present  moments  then  and  there  engaging  him. 
This  was  his  appearance  when  mentally  or  emotion 
ally  in  full  activity  in  all  three  of  his  moods. 

At  such  times,  if  engaged  in  public  speaking,  he 
did  not  have  the  forward  droop  his  inclining 
shoulders  seemed  to  suggest.  They  were  thrown 
slightly  backward.  The  head  rested  squarely 
and  erect,  supported  on  the  sturdy  muscles  of 
his  strong,  sinewy,  well-rounded  neck,  and  these 
became,  after  speaking  a  few  minutes,  tense 
enough  almost  to  give  a  trace  of  defiance  and 
aggression.  It  was  defiance  and  aggression,  at 
these  times — exactly  this;  but  his  facial  lines  and 
their  muscles,  as  he  continued  speaking,  became 
softened,  and  the  flush  of  colour,  and  the  hard 
curves  on  his  face,  became  relieved;  and  those 
far-visioned  eyes  lit  up  with  kan  animation  that, 
taken  all  together,  freed  his  countenance  from  any 
severity  of  outline  it  often  had  when  in  repose, 
and  which  is,  unfortunately,  so  strongly  marked 
upon  it  in  his  photographs. 

It  was  this  facial  expressiveness  in  public  speak 
ing  and  animated  conversation, — its  lines,  curves, 
and  colour  tints  coming  and  passing,  only  to  re 
turn  in  changeful  successions, — to  which  Herndon 
referred  when  he  said,  "Lincoln  appeared  at  times 
like  he  was  fresh  from  the  hand  of  his  Creator." 


In  Portraits  and  Photographs     339 

Herein  lies  the  challenge  and  the  hope — almost  the 
despair — of  any  artist's  technic,  be  he  a  Raphael 
or  an  Angelo,  to  represent  Lincoln  on  canvas  or  in 
marble  as  he  appeared  in  times  of  highest  mental 
activity.  Such  was  Lincoln's  expressive  person 
ality  when  animated  by  strong  emotional  or  mental 
stimulus.  It  was  the  same,  be  it  in  his  home,  in 
his  office,  or  in  the  courts,  whenever  his  interest 
or  sympathy  was  thoroughly  aroused.  There  was 
nothing  in  all  this  like  posing  for  special  public 
functions.  When  he  entered  the  strong  periods 
of  political  discussions  in  their  storm-centres, 
from  1856  to  1 86 1,  this  deep  undercurrent  of 
vigour  and  aggressiveness  in  his  public  appearance 
became  stronger,  rendering  him  all  the  more 
effective.  He  had  found  himself.  The  hour  for 
which  he  had  been  so  unconsciously  in  training 
had  arrived,  and  he  arose  awake  and  fully  prepared 
for  the  task  before  him.  I  think  it  was  at  this 
period  he  had  become  conscious  of  his  own  awaken 
ing  and  thereafter  better  understood  and  depended 
more  exclusively  on  himself. 

But  in  the  aggressive  energy  of  these  occasions 
he  did  not  lose  the  charming  gentleness  of  his 
quieter  days.  Beneath  the  defiant  vigour  of  his 
speeches  in  which  he  appealed  so  strongly  for 
truth  and  justice,  for  liberty  and  union,  he  still 


34°  Abraham  Lincoln 

^ 

possessed  a  gentle,  kindly  charity  that  remained 
with  him  to  the  end,  enabling  him  to  bear,  believe, 
hope,  and  endure  all  things  during  his  Presidential 
years.  This  gentle  quality  was  the  source  of  the 
vigour  and  the  strength  with  which  he  met  difficul 
ties  and  won  the  confidence  of  the  nation.  His  was 
a  patience  that  endureth  all  things ;  a  fidelity  that 
hopeth  all  things,  and  never  failed  to  be  an  active 
part  in  the  vigour  and  aggressiveness  with  which 
he  met  and  accomplished  results  in  the  common 
duties  and  greater  emergencies  that  he  had  to 
meet  in  his  life.  This  complexity  of  character 
is  the  distinctive  quality  in  Abraham  Lincoln 
that  posterity  will  recognize,  when  put  in  statue 
and  portrait  as  representing  to  the  eye  the  same 
great  man  who  is  revealed,  so  interpretively,  by 
what  history  records  of  him  in  his  letters  and 
speeches.  Behold  the  man! 

A  Greek  poet  tells  us  that  Grief  walks  the  earth 
and  sits  at  the  feet  of  each  by  turns.  She  cer 
tainly  lingered  along  the  path  of  Abraham  Lin 
coln's  life,  casting  her  shadows  about  him  with 
unusual  persistency.  It  was  a  strange,  sad  school 
through  which  he  passed  during  all  his  years,  his 
graduation  at  last  in  death;  a  tragedy.  The 
turning  points  of  his  life  scarce  passed  beyond  one 


In  Portraits  and  Photographs     341 

and  through  another  of  Grief's  shadows  before 
other  events  sprang  into  it  to  stir  and  vibrate  his 
every  hour,  until,  in  his  later  years,  there  were 
piled  big,  in  and  around  his  life,  the  denser  shad 
ows  of  a  whole  nation's  griefs.  These  finally  filled 
the  whole  heavens  with  the  black  war  clouds  of  a 
nation's  conflict  and  peril,  lightened  and  intensified 
only  by  the  lurid  gleam  and  thunderous  crash  of 
battles.  His  response  was  equal  to  their  every 
demand.  Yet  his  stalwart  body  bore  record  of 
the  heavy  load  under  which  it  had  been  bent  but 
never  broken. 

There  is,  in  the  deepened  furrows  and  increasing 
seriousness  of  his  sad  face,  to  be  read  the  record 
of  his  mental  struggles,  the  strain  of  his  emotions 
and  the  draft  upon  his  vital  sympathies.  His 
was  a  face  marred  by  toils  and  anguish,  such  as 
seldom  come  to  the  sons  of  men,  for  the  face  to 
bear  a  record  of!  This  is  the  face  and  this  the 
body,  bearing  in  form  and  feature  such  records  of 
experiences  as  may  yet  find  worthy  expression 
in  statue  or  portrait  by  the  skill  of  some  master 
artist,  whose  genius  and  technic  may  yet  bring 
before  us  again  the  personality  and  power  we  once 
beheld  in  Abraham  Lincoln.  Less  than  this  result 
will  be  such  a  failure  as  history  will  neither  con 
done  nor  have  any  saving  grace  to  cover  or  forgive. 


342  Abraham  Lincoln 

If  I  were  to  undertake  to  paint  in  words  a 
portrait  of  Abraham  Lincoln  that  would  express 
his  peculiar  possession  of  this  hidden  power  as 
observed  in  him  before  becoming  President,  as 
well  as  after,  I  should  present  two  views  of  him 
as  he  appeared  on  two  widely  different  occasions. 
Then,  blending  these  together  in  the  stereoscope 
of  memory,  the  result  would  be  a  faithful  compos 
ite  picture  of  the  inner,  the  greater,  the  real, 
Abraham  Lincoln. 

These  two  views  represent  him  in  the  delivery 
of  two  speeches,  and  are  offered  here  as  furnishing 
character  outlines  for  critics  of  his  portraits  and 
photographs  who  profess  to  see  in  none  of  them 
an  adequate  presentation  of  this  man's  superiority. 
They  are  presented  as  snapshots,  as  it  were,— 
flash-light  views, — revealing  character  by  catching 
the  expression  of  the  features  and  pose  of  the  stal 
wart  body  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  when  his  inner 
soul  lit  up  the  outer  man  and  revealed  that  forceful 
personality  with  which  he  was  endowed  by  his 
Creator  for  the  vast  task  before  him.  Out  of 
these  personal  memories  of  Lincoln's  private  and 
public  life,  recalling  so  vividly  the  exaltation 
brought  into  his  countenance  by  the  great  soul 
within,  I  see  before  me  as  I  write  the  revealing 
portrait  and  statue  of  the  First  American. 


In  Portraits  and  Photographs     343 

,  I  see  him  first  as  he  stood  at  bay  that  October 
day,  1856,  at  Petersburg,  silently  waiting  for  a 
hearing  by  old  friends,  now  his  fierce  political 
foes.  In  his  face,  in  his  strong  towering  form 
was  revealed  all  that  was  brave  and  heroic  in  a 
man  of  undaunted  dignity  and  determination. 
The  countenance,  the  muscular  vigour,  the  splen 
did  self-control,  showed  the  well  balanced,  re 
solute  soul  within,  and  a  will  that  could,  would, 
and  did,  when  necessary,  hold  the  plain  people 
of  the  nation  steadily  against  tide  and  storm  for 
five  fearful,  fateful  years  of  battle's  shock  and 
even  more  serious  dissensions,  legislative,  diplo 
matic,  and  internal.  They  stood  steadfastly  with 
him,  and  he  with  them;  through  all,  abiding  in 
increasing  mutual  faith  until  the  end.  All  this — 
far  more  than  any  words  can  express — awaits  an 
artist's  skill  to  put  on  canvas  for  a  life-size  portrait 
of  that  Abraham  Lincoln,  as  he  stood  in  silence 
a  long  half-hour  on  that  beautiful  autumn  day 
before  that  turbulent  though  familiar  throng. 

The  second  speech  delivered  from  the  rear 
platform  of  the  train  as  he  was  leaving  Springfield 
for  Washington,  revealed  his  strong  character  from 
a  different  angle.  It  was  here  he  gave  his  last  word 
to  neighbours  and  friends,  old  and  new;  and  to  some 


344  Abraham  Lincoln 

there  present  who  were  then 'far  from  friendly. 
As  he  delivered  this  farewell  orison,  all  there  was 
of  tenderness  and  love  in  Abraham  Lincoln  came 
out  in  the  pathos  wrung  from  his  great  soul  at 
that  parting  moment.  The  home  ties  of  his  past 
life  rushed  in  and  tightened  about  his  heart,  as  he 
had  never  felt  them  before,  while  he  gave  utterance 
to  these  last  tender  and  prophetic  words.  At  the 
same  time,  and  far  more  expressive  than  his  words, 
there  came  out  into  the  face  of  the  departing 
President-elect,  as  he  spoke,  the  spirit  of  the  inner 
life  of  Abraham  Lincoln :  so  yearning,  so  sorrowful, 
so  solicitous  to  retain  the  good  will  and  to  share 
in  the  prayers  of  all  good  people  to  help  nerve  and 
fit  him  for  the  fateful  months  he  fully  realized 
were  before  him ;  so  lingeringly  drawn  back  by  old 
ties  and  old  friends,  but  so  hopefully  brave — 
a  prophet  and  a  seer — in  looking  forward  to  dare 
and  to  do  for  the  right,  with  the  clearest  political 
vision  of  any  American  of  his  time.  He  stood 
there  already  firmly  fixed  and  settled  on  the  great 
central  truths,  and  in  the  policies  and  principles 
that  he  should  pursue;  but  the  consummation  of 
which  he  expected  to  reach  only  through  the  help 
of  that  Infinite  One  his  spirit  had  just  called 
on  to  aid  him,  and  all  others,  in  the  problems  before 
the  country;  problems  harder  than  any  since  that 


In  Portraits  and  Photographs     345 

Infinite  One  had  sustained  Washington  for  eight 
long  years  before  victory  and  peace  were  achieved. 

These  two  speeches, — exceptionally  strong  as 
presentations  of  Lincoln's  personality  and  so  re 
vealing  of  his  characteristics, — of  course,  passed 
with  the  critical  moments  that  called  them  forth. 
Of  those  there  present,  who  now  bear  in  memory 
the  hour  and  the  man,  few  remain  who  can  give 
in  word-tracings  any  account  of  the  physical, 
mental,  and  moral  inspiration  that  these,  and 
many  other  occasions,  revealed  of  Lincoln's 
masterful  manhood.  None  can  be  more  con 
scious  than  myself,  as  I  write  this  sketch  in  pen- 
portraiture,  that  the  genius,  the  virility,  the 
inner  personal  character  of  Abraham  Lincoln 
transcended  occasions,  and  permeated,  more  or 
less,  all  the  words  and  deeds  of  his  eventful  life. 
His  best  portraits  are  those  traced  on  the  pages 
of  his  country's  history,  and  equally  in  the  hearts 
of  his  reunited  countrymen.  These,  when  com 
bined,  assemble  the  best  tonings  and  tracings  of 
Abraham  Lincoln's  portraiture;  mirrored  in  the 
one,  and  in  the  other  wrought  into  the  nation's 
character,  by  the  power  of  his  unique  personality 
and  lofty  ideals. 

Seek  you  the  picture  of  this  man  to  pass  on 


346  Abraham  Lincoln 

to  future  ages?  Look  around  you.  Behold  its 
portrayal  in  the  united  fraternity  of  these  States, 
in  a  government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  for 
the  people,  with  malice  towards  none  and  charity 
for  all.  He  still  lives  in  the  new  national  spirit 
vibrating  in  unison  among  a  hundred  million 
citizens,  now  fused  into  one  people,  as  his  first 
inaugural  foretold  they  should — and  would  be — 
when  touched  by  the  warmth  of  our  better  nature. 
His  faith  never  faltered! 

Out  of  such  memories,  personal  and  historic, 
emerge  outline  tracings  for  a  possible  composite 
portrait,  or  life-revealing  statue,  of  Abraham 
Lincoln  in  the  epic  dignity  and  prophecy  of  his 
life.  Who  could,  who  can,  who  will  present  it? 
The  pen  is  powerless  to  accomplish  it  in  words, 
and  no  artist's  skill  appears  likely  ever  adequately 
to  place  him  on  canvas,  or  in  enduring  marble 
and  bronze,  since  the  great  Masters  of  Art  passed 
away  long  before  this  Master  of  Men  stepped  upon 
the  scene. 

With  this  criticism  of  the  unsatisfactory  photo 
graphs  and  portraits  of  Lincoln,  and  as  a  further 
explanation,  I  will  avail  myself  of  the  privilege 
of  reminiscence,  granted  to  the  elderly,  to  mention 


In  Portraits  and  Photographs     347 

some  of  the  strange  changes  of  positions  and 
principles  which  come  alike  to  individual  lives 
and  the  public  opinion  of  nations  in  very  brief 
periods.  Sometimes,  as  was  the  case  with  Lincoln 
in  these  momentous  years,  the  scroll  of  personal 
history  unfolds  rapidly.  It  was  as  if  the  Unseen 
One — to  quote  his  own  words — ''who  controls 
mine  and  all  destinies, "  had  led  him  quietly  thus 
far,  but  now  touched  his  life  anew.  The  period 
of  his  mission  had  now  arrived ;  his  hour  of  destiny 
had  struck.  The  Yesterdays  and  Todays  in 
Lincoln's  life  now  followed  each  other  in  quick 
succession,  each  one  freighted  with  events  of 
greatest  moment.  One  who  was  near  him  in 
those  affairs,  who  would  outline  some  of  those 
changes,  finds  the  canvas  crowded  and  asks  the 
reader's  patience  in  following  the  sketchy  transi 
tions  they  present. 

Looking  back  to  that  day,  in  1856,  at  Peters 
burg,  I  remark  that  it  was  here  in  this  little  town, 
which  his  compass  and  chain  had  measured  out 
and  platted  for  record;  it  was  among  this  people 
with  whom  he  had  lived  for  several  years,  and  at 
whose  firesides  he  had  been  a  welcome  visitor; 
before  whom  on  scores  of  occasions  he  had  been 
the  most  heartily  welcomed  speaker ; — it  was  here 


348  Abraham  Lincoln 

that  Lincoln  met  the  first  fierce  strokes  of  dissent 
and  hostility  that  were  to  usher  him  into  the  awful 
arena  of  that  civil  war  between  the  States,  of 
which  he  was  later  to  be  the  front  and  centre. 
Thenceforward  there  was  to  be  in  his  life  only 
restless  strife  and  turmoil. 

Equally  remarkable,  on  the  people's  side,  was 
the  change  in  political  view  that  came  to  nearly  all 
of  those  citizens  before  whom  he  delivered  his 
speech.  Of  those  who  met  him  with  noisy  dis 
sent,  and  who  so  reluctantly  gave  him  a  hearing, 
at  least  one  third  of  their  number  afterwards 
became  enthusiastic  soldiers  in  the  Grand  Army 
of  the  Republic,  and  at  his  second  Presidential 
election  all  who  had  the  opportunity  voted  the 
way  they  shot.  Little  did  these  sturdy  yeomen 
on  that  day  expect  to  respond  to  the  call  for  volun 
teers  by  this  orator  as  their  Commander-in-Chief , 
or  that  the  time  was  so  near  when,  as  well  drilled 
veterans,  they  would  march  under  his  orders  across 
many  a  crimson  battle-field  amid  the  shadows  of 
Death  at  Donelson,  Vicksburg,  Shiloh,  Gettysburg, 
and  many  other  fields  of  conflict ;  until  at  length, 
passing  around  Atlanta,  they  would  go  '  *  Marching 
through  Georgia ' '  to  the  sea ;  to  Washington ;  and  to 
the  fraternal  peace  and  Union  between  the  States. 


In  Portraits  and  Photographs     349 

No  prophetic  vision  brought  to  these  future 
veteran  soldiers  the  forecast  of  the  last  time  they 
would  see  this  speaker;  that  this  would  be  on  their 
returning  victorious  through  the  national  capital, 
there  to  pass  in  grand  veteran  review  before  their 
Commander-in-Chief,  this  same  orator — then  the 
twice-elected  President  of  the  United  States. 
None  of  this  Menard  County  throng,  friend  or 
foe,  on  that  day  saw  any  prophet  or  seer  in  the 
tall  familiar  form  of  the  earnest  orator  before 
them — his  long  dark  hair  tossed  to  and  fro  by  the 
October  wind,  while  he  proclaimed  anew  that, 
"A  house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand," 
and  his  thrilling  prophetic  words  declaring  that 
"Sooner  or  later,  the  victory  is  sure  to  come." 
That  day  it  once  again  was  true,  as  of  old,  that  a 
prophet  was  without  honour  in  his  own  country. 

We  did  not  then  see  the  Abraham  Lincoln  of 
four  years  later — a  victorious  Presidential  leader 
for  the  nation's  new  birth  of  freedom  and  a  more 
perfect  Union  of  the  States.  Our  vision  could  not 
penetrate  the  future  nor  foresee  the  tense  and 
terrible  hours  that  all  our  people,  South  as  well  as 
North,  at  their  homes  or  away  amid  the  armed 
citizen  soldiery  of  both  sides,  would  all  have  to 
pass  through,  day  by  day,  night  by  night,  until 
time's  heart-beats  counted  off  the  days  and  nights 


35°  Abraham  Lincoln 

of   the   five  longest,    darkest;  saddest   years  in 
American  history. 

Then  later — so  sad  and  cruel  alike  to  both  South 
and  North,  now  a  united  country — we  all  knew 
the  great  services  of  Abraham  Lincoln  who  had 
passed  away  from  his  countrymen  all  too  soon; 
yet  a  joy  and  honour  to  us  all  that  he  would  be 
for  ever  on  the  scroll  of  our  country's  history, 
canonized  as  our  First  American,  who,  in  the  sad 
lament  of  his  War  Secretary  over  his  lifeless  form, 
"belonged  to  the  Ages!" 


9DBM     flloQi 


35°  Abraham  Lincoln 

of  the  five  longest,   darkest?  saddest  years  in 

Am  ustor. 


T  ./!    AT    .       r     .,      .1   -       •  T  i.  alike  to 
Life    Mast    of   Abraham    Lincoln 

Leonard  W.  Volt  *$  i860  at  Cffi6a^).knew 

ThTe£^ffers  vie^coln  who  h*<* 

passed  away  from  nis  n  all  too  soon; 


vet  a  joy  and  honour  to  u>  y;   ;hat  hr.  -would,  be 
Life   Mask    qf  Abraham    Lincoln    MaAe   oy 

Leonard  W.  Volk  in  1860  at  Chicajo'f^ 

°ur  &de  View. 

is  War  .  ,  ss  form, 

Two  photograpjis,  under  different  view-points,  of  the 

Lincoln  mask  are  here  shown.  A  direct  front- 
view  photograph  of  Volk's  life  mask  of  Lincoln 
flattens  and  shortens,  distorts  or  obscures,  some 
of  Lincoln's  most  prominent  and  striking  features, 
viz.  his  chin,  nose,  cheek  bones,  and  some  deeply 
creased  wrinkles,  —  all  of  them  so  marked  and  ex 
pressively  a  part  of  the  Lincolnian  face  to  those 
who  knew  him,  or  to  the  artists  wishing  truthfully 
to  represent  his  personality  on  canvas  or  statue. 
A  close  comparison  of  these  two  views  of  the  life 
mask  with  the  two  Hesler  photographs  gives  us  a 
presentment  of  the  Lincoln  face  as  it  was  in  1860 
as  perfect  as  photographic  art  and  a  life  mask, 
unitedly,  could  preserve. 


The  Lincoln  Life-Mask 


351 


This  mask  doth  keep  the  very  form  and  mold 
Of  our  great  martyr's  face.  Yes,  this  is  he: 
That  brow  all  wisdom,  all  benignity; 

That  human,  humorous  mouth;  those  cheeks  that  hold 

Like  some  harsh  landscape  all  the  summer's  gold ; 
That  spirit  fit  for  sorrow,  as  the  sea 
For  storms  to  beat  on ;  the  lone  agony 

Those  silent,  patient  lips  too  well  foretold. 

Yes,  this  is  he  who  ruled  a  world  of  men 
As  might  some  prophet  of  the  elder  day — 
Brooding  above  the  tempest  and  the  fray 

With  deep-eyed  thought  and  more  than  mortal  ken. 
A  power  was  his  beyond  the  touch  of  art 
Or  armed  strength — his  pure  and  mighty  heart. 

RICHARD  WATSON  GILDER. 


352 


XVI 

THE  LINCOLN  LIFE-MASK 

So  interesting  had  the  study  of  Lincoln's 
photographs  and  portraits  become  as  long  ago  as 
December,  1881,  that  the  appearance  at  that  time 
of  .an  article  by  Leonard  Volk  describing  the  first 
time  he  met  Abraham  Lincoln  in  1858,  and  the 
subsequent  sittings  of  Lincoln  for  his  life  mask, 
made  by  that  sculptor,  attracted  then  and  has 
since  received,  no  little  attention  from  those  in 
terested  in  Lincoln's  characteristics. 

But  this  contribution  of  Mr.  Volk's,  written 
more  than  twenty  years  after  the  events  narrated, 
with  all  the  merit  it  contains,  nevertheless  should 
not  go  into  history  without  some  explanations 
that  explain  and  some  corrections  that  will 
clarify  certain  statements  that  he  has  made.  The 
attention  Mr.  Volk's  article  has  received  from 
artists  and  writers  of  prominence  makes  more 
necessary  the  corrections  and  comments  here 
submitted. 

The  article  of  Mr.  Volk  is  here  printed  in  full 

23  353 


354  Abraham  Lincoln 

in  order  that  such  comments  and  corrections 
as  are  made  may  be  more  intelligible  to  my 
readers. 

The  world  is  so  greatly  indebted  to  Leonard 
Volk  for  this  life-mask  of  Lincoln  that  it  is  not 
personally  pleasant  to  introduce  his  article  here 
with  adverse  comments.  Mr.  Volk  made  this 
life-mask  at  a  time  when  no  other  sculptor  had 
been  attracted  by  the  personality  of  Lincoln  in  a 
way  that  had  induced  them  to  wish  to  represent 
him  by  their  art.  Therefore  all  artists,  all  admirers 
of  our  First  American,  now  recognize  the  debt  of 
gratitude  the  present  and  future  generations  owe 
to  Leonard  Volk  for  this  life-mask.  Lincoln's 
greatness  had  not  then  been  recognized  outside  of 
a  limited  few.  In  1860  the  capacity  of  this  re 
markable  man  was  neither  realized  nor  anticipated 
by  his  State  or  Nation,  much  less  by  any  other 
artist  or  sculptor. 

I  bespeak  for  certain  parts  of  Mr.  Volk's  article 
the  kindly  charity  of  -my  readers  not  to  allow 
the  few  lapses  in  memory  the  sculptor  betrays 
in  his  article,  to  render  them  less  grateful 
for  this  contribution,  or  less  appreciative  of 
the  glimpses  the  article  affords  of  Lincoln's 
personality  herein  preserved  for  us  by  "the  great 
sculptor. 


The  Lincoln  Life-Mask          355 

THE  LINCOLN  LIFE-MASK  AND  HOW  IT  WAS  MADE 
BY  LEONARD  W.  VOLK 


REPRINTED     FROM     THE     CENTURY     MAGAZINE     FOR     DECEMBER, 
I88l. — BY    PERMISSION   OF    THE    CENTURY  COMPANY 


My  first  meeting  with  Abraham  Lincoln  was  in 
1858,  when  the  celebrated  senatorial  contest  opened  in 
Chicago  between  him  and  Stephen  A.  Douglas.  I 
was  invited  by  the  latter  to  accompany  him  and  his 
party  by  a  special  train  to  Springfield,  to  which  train 
was  attached  a  platform-car  having  on  board  a 
cannon,  which  made  considerable  noise  on  the  jour 
ney.  At  Bloomington  we  all  stopped  overnight,  as 
Douglas  had  a  speech  to  make  there  in  the  evening. 
The  party  went  to  the  Landon  House,  the  only  hotel, 
I  believe,  in  the  place  at  the  time. 

While  we  were  sitting  in  the  hotel  office  after 
supper,  Mr.  Lincoln  entered,  carrying  an  old  carpet 
bag  in  his  hand,  and  wearing  a  weather-beaten  silk 
hat, — too  large,  apparently,  for  his  head, — a  long 
loosely  fitting  frock-coat  of  black  alpaca,  and  vest 
and  trousers  of  the  same  material.  He  walked  up  to 
the  counter,  and,  saluting  the  clerk  pleasantly,  passed 
the  bag  over  to  him,  and  inquired  if  he  was  too  late 
for  supper.  The  clerk  replied  that  supper  was  over, 
but  thought  enough  could  be  "scraped  up"  for  him. 

"All  right,"  said  Mr.  Lincoln,  "I  don't  want 
much." 


356  Abraham  Lincoln 

Meanwhile,  he  said  he  would  wash  the  dust  off;  he 
was  certainly  very  dusty,  for  it  was  the  month  of 
June  and  quite  warm.  While  he  was  so  engaged 
several  old  friends,  who  had  learned  of  his  arrival, 
rushed  in  to  see  him,  some  of  them  shouting  out, 
"How  are  you,  Old  Abe?"  Mr.  Lincoln  grasped 
them  by  the  hand  in  his  cordial  manner,  with  the 
broadest  and  pleasantest  smile  on  his  rugged  face. 
This  was  the  first  good  view  I  had  of  the  "coming 
man, "  though  I  had  seen  him  at  a  distance,  and  passed 
him  on  the  sidewalk  in  Chicago  a  few  days 
before. 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  on  the  platform  in  front  of  the 
court-house  when  Mr.  Douglas  spoke,  and  replied  to 
the  Senator  when  he  had  finished.  I  regretted  to 
hear  some  hard  words  which  passed  between  them 
while  Mr.  Douglas  was  speaking. 

The  next  day  we  all  stopped  at  the  town  of  Lincoln, 
where  short  speeches  were  made  by  the  contestants, 
and  dinner  was  served  at  the  hotel,  after  which  and  as 
Mr.  Lincoln  came  out  on  the  plank  walk  in  front,  I 
was  formally  presented  to  him.  He  saluted  me  with 
his  natural  cordiality,  grasping  my  hand  in  both  his 
large  hands  with  a  vise-like  grip  and  looking  down 
into  my  face  with  his  beaming  dark,  dull  eyes,  said: 

"How  do  you  do?  I  am  glad  to  meet  you.  I  have 
read  of  you  in  the  papers;  you  are  making  a  statue 
of  Judge  Douglas  for  Governor  Matteson's  new 
house?" 


The  Lincoln  Life-Mask          357 

"Yes,  sir,"  I  answered;  "and  sometime,  when  you 
are  in  Chicago  and  can  spare  the  time,  I  would  like  to 
have  you  sit  to  me  for  your  bust." 

"Yes,  I  will,  Mr.  Volk— shall  be  glad  to,  the_first 
opportunity  I  have." 

All  were  soon  on  board  the  long  train,  crowded  with 
people  going  to  hear  the  speeches  at  Springfield.  The 
train  stopped  on  the  track,  near  Edwards'  Grove,  in 
the  northern  outskirts  of  the  town,  where  staging  was 
erected  and  a  vast  crowd  waiting  under  the  shade  of 
the  trees.  On  leaving  the  train,  most  of  the  passengers 
climbed  over  the  fences  and  crossed  the  stubble-field, 
taking  a  short-cut  to  the  grove,  among  them  Mr. 
Lincoln  who  stalked  forward  alone,  taking  immense 
strides,  the  before-mentioned  carpet-bag  and  an 
umbrella  in  his  hands  and  his  coat-skirts  flying  in  the 
breeze.  I  managed  to  keep  pretty  close  in  the  rear 
of  the  tall,  gaunt  figure,  with  the  head  craned  forward, 
apparently  much  over  the  balance,  like  the  Leaning 
Tower  of  Pisa  that  was  moving  something  like  a 
hurricane  across  that  rough  stubble-field.  He  ap 
proached  the  rail  fence,  sprang  over  it  as  nimbly  as  a 
boy  of  eighteen,  and  disappeared  from  my  sight. 
Soon  after,  and  while  Douglas  was  speaking,  Mr. 
Lincoln  suddenly  reappeared  in  the  crowd,  mounted 
upon  a  fine,  spirited  horse. 

In  the  evening  I  went  to  hear  him  speak  in  the  Hall 
of  Representatives  of  the  old  State  House.  He  spoke 
with  much  deliberation  and  earnestness  and  I  thought 


358  Abraham  Lincoln 

there  was  sadness  in  his  tone  of  voice ;  he  reminded  his 
friends  of  the  difficulty  of  carrying  the  State  for 
himself,  owing  to  the  way  in  which  it  was  districted 
at  the  time,  and  cautioned  them  not  to  be  over- 
sanguine — to  be  prepared  for  defeat;  if  they  wished 
for  victory,  no  stone  must  be  left  unturned. 

I  did  not  see  him  again  for  nearly  two  years.  I 
spent  most  of  the  winter  of  1860  in  Washington, 
publishing  a  statuette  of  Senator  Douglas,  and  just 
before  leaving,  in  the  month  of  March,  I  called  upon 
Mr.  Douglas'  colleague  in  the  Senate  from  Illinois 
and  asked  him  if  he  had  an  idea  as  to  who  would  be 
the  probable  nominee  of  the  Republican  party  for 
President,  that  I  might  model  a  bust  of  him  in  advance. 
He  replied  that  he  did  not  have  the  least  particle  of 
an  idea  who  he  would  be,  only  that  it  would  not  be 
Judge  Douglas. 

I  returned  to  Chicago,  and  got  my  studio  in  the 
"Portland  Block"  in  order  and  ready  for  work,  and 
began  to  consider  whose  bust  I  should  first  begin  in 
the  clay,  when  I  noticed  in  a  morning  paper  that 
Abraham  Lincoln  was  in  town — retained  as  one  of  the 
counsel  in  a  "sand-bar"  trial  in  which  the  Michigan 
Central  Railroad  was  either  plaintiff  or  defendant. 
I  at  once  decided  to  remind  him  of  his  promise  to  sit 
to  me,  made  two  years  before.  I  found  him  in  the 
United  States  District  Court-room  (in  a  building 
known  at  the  time  as  the  "Larmon  Block")  his  feet 
on  the  edge  of  a  table,  one  of  his  fingers  thrust  into  his 


The  Lincoln  Life-Mask          359 

mouth,  and  his  long,  dark  hair  standing  out  at  every 
imaginable  angle,  apparently  uncombed  for  a  week. 
He  was  surrounded  by  a  group  of  lawyers,  such  as 
James  F.  Joy,  Isaac  N.  Arnold,  Thomas  Hoyne,  and 
others.  Mr.  Arnold  obtained  his  attention  in  my 
behalf,  when  he  instantly  arose  and  met  me  outside  the 
rail  recognizing  me  at  once  with  his  usual  grip  of  both 
hands.  He  remembered  his  promise  and  said  in 
answer  to  my  question,  that  he  expected  to  be  de 
tained  by  the  case  for  a  week.  He  added: 

"  I  shall  be  glad  to  give  you  the  sittings.  When  shall 
I  come  and  how  long  will  you  need  me  each  time?" 

Just  after  breakfast,  every  morning,  would,  he  said 
suit  him  the  best,  and  he  could  remain  till  court 
opened,  at  ten  o'clock.  I  answered  that  I  would  be 
ready  for  him  the  next  morning,  Thursday.  This  was 
in  the  early  part  of  April,  1860. 

"Very  well,  Mr.  Volk,  I  will  be  there,  and  I'll  go  to 
a  barber  and  have  my  hair  cut  before  I  come." 

I  requested  him  not  to  let  the  barber  cut  it  too  short, 
and  said  I  would  rather  he  would  leave  it  as  it  was; 
but  to  this  he  would  not  consent.  Then,  all  of  a 
sudden,  he  ran  his  fingers  through  his  hair  and  said: 

"No,  I  cannot  come  tomorrow,  as  I  have  an  engage 
ment  with  Mr.  W to  go  to  Evanston  tomorrow 

and  attend  an  entertainment ;  but  I'd  rather  come  and 
sit  to  you  for  the  bust  than  go  there  and  meet  a  lot  of 
college  professors  and  others,  all  strangers  to  me.  And 
I  will  be  obliged  if  you  will  go  to  Mr.  W 's  office 


360  Abraham  Lincoln 

now  and  get  me  released  from  the  engagement.  I 
will  wait  here  till  you  come  back. " 

So  off  I  posted,  but  Mr.  W would  not  release 

him,  because  he  said  it  would  be  a  great  disappoint 
ment  to  the  people  he  had  invited.  Mr.  Lincoln 
looked  quite  sorry  when  I  reported  to  him  the  failure 
of  my  mission. 

"Well,"  he  said,  "I  suppose  I  must  go,  but  I  will 
come  to  you  Friday  morning." 

He  was  there  promptly — indeed,  he  never  failed  to 
be  on  time.  My  studio  was  in  the  fifth  story  and 
there  were  no  elevators  in  those  days,  and  I  soon 
learned  to  distinguish  his  steps  on  the  stairs,  and  am 
sure  he  frequently  came  up  two  if  not  three  steps  at  a 
stride.  When  he  sat  down  the  first  time  in  that  hard, 
wooden,  low-armed  chair  which  I  still  possess,  and 
which  has  been  occupied  by  Douglas,  Seward,  and 
Generals  Grant  and  Dix,  he  said: 

"Mr.  Volk,  I  have  never  sat  before  to  sculptor  or 
painter — only  for  daguerreotypes  and  photographs. 
What  shall  I  do?"  I  told  him  I  would  only  take  the 
measurement  of  his  head  and  shoulders  that  time, 
and  next  morning,  Saturday,  I  would  make  a  cast  of 
his  face,  which  would  save  him  a  number  of  sittings. 
He  stood  up  against  the  wall  and  I  made  a  mark  above 
his  head,  and  then  measured  up  to  it  from  the  floor 
and  said: 

"You  are  just  twelve  inches  taller  than  Judge 
Douglas,  that  is  six  feet  one  inch." 


The  Lincoln  Life-Mask          361 

Before  commencing  the  cast  next  morning  and 
knowing  Mr.  Lincoln's  fondness  for  a  story,  I  told 
him  one  in  order  to  remove  what  I  thought  an  appre 
hensive  expression — as  though  he  feared  the  operation 
might  be  dangerous,  and  this  is  the  story: 

I  occasionally  employed  a  little  black-eyed,  black- 
haired,  and  dark-skinned  Italian  as  a  formatore  in 
plaster  work,  who  had  related  to  me  a  short  time 
before  that  himself  and  a  comrade  image-vendor  were 
"doing"  Switzerland  by  hawking  their  images.  One 
day  a  Swiss  gentleman  asked  him  if  he  could  make  his 
likeness  in  plaster.  "Oh,  yes,  signor ;  I  am  a  sculptor!" 
So  Matteo  Mattel — such  was  the  name  of  the  preten 
der — got  some  plaster,  laid  the  big  Swiss  gentleman  on 
his  back,  stuck  a  quill  in  either  nostril  for  him  to 
breathe  through,  and  requested  him  to  close  his  eyes. 
Then  "Mat"  as  I  called  him,  poured  the  soft  plaster 
all  over  his  face  and  forehead;  then  he  paused  for 
reflection;  as  the  plaster  was  beginning  to  set  he 
became  frightened,  as  he  had  never  before  undertaken 
such  a  job,  and  had  neglected  to  prepare  the  face 
properly,  especially  the  gentleman's  huge  beard, 
moustache,  and  the  hair  about  the  temples  and  fore 
head,  through  which,  of  course,  the  plaster  had  run 
and  become  solid.  "Mat"  made  an  excuse  to  go 
outside  the  door — "then,"  said  he,  "I  run  like ." 

I  saw  Mr.  Lincoln's  eyes  twinkle  with  mirth. 

"How  did  he  get  it  off?"  said  he. 

I  answered  that  probably,  after  reasonable  waiting 


362  Abraham  Lincoln 

for  the  sculptor,  he  had  to  break*  it  off,  and  cut  and 
pull  out  all  the  hair  which  the  tenacious  plaster 
touched,  the  best  way  he  could.  "Mat"  said  he  took 
special  pains  to  avoid  that  particular  part  of  Switzer 
land  after  that  artistic  experience.  But  his  com 
panion,  who  somewhat  resembled  him,  not  knowing 
anything  of  his  partner's  performance,  was  soon  after 
wards  overhauled  by  the  gentleman  and  nearly 
cudgeled  to  death. 

Upon  hearing  this,  the  tears  actually  trickled  down 
Mr.  Lincoln's  bronzed  cheeks,  and  he  was  at  once  in 
the  best  of  humours.  He  sat  naturally  in  the  chair 
when  I  made  the  cast  and  saw  every  move  I  made  in  a 
mirror  opposite,  as  I  put  the  plaster  on  without  inter 
ference  with  his  eyesight  or  his  free  breathing  through 
the  nostrils.  It  was  about  an  hour  before  the  mold 
was  ready  to  be  removed,  and  being  all  in  one  piece, 
with  both  ears  perfectly  taken,  it  clung  pretty  hard, 
as  the  cheek-bones  were  higher  than  the  jaws  at  the 
lobe  of  the  ear.  He  bent  his  head  low  and  took  hold 
of  the  mold  and  gradually  worked  it  off  without 
breaking  or  injury.  It  hurt  a  little,  as  a  few  hairs  of 
the  tender  temples  pulled  out  with  the  plaster  and 
made  his  eyes  water ;  but  the  remembrance  of  the  poor 
Swiss  gentleman  evidently  kept  him  in  good  mood. 

He  entered  my  studio  on  Sunday  morning,  re 
marking  that  a  friend  at  the  hotel  (Tremont  House) 
had  invited  him  to  attend  church;  "but,"  said  Mr. 
Lincoln,  "I  thought  I'd  rather  come  and  sit  for  the 


The  Lincoln  Life-Mask          363 

bust.  The  fact  is,"  he  continued,  "  I  don't  like  to  hear 
cut-and-dried  sermons.  No — when  I  hear  a  man 
preach,  I  like  to  see  him  act  as  if  he  were  fighting 
bees!"  And  he  extended  his  long  arms,  at  the  same 
time  suiting  the  action  to  the  words.  He  gave  me  on 
this  day  a  long  sitting  of  more  than  four  hours,  and 
when  it  was  concluded,  went  to  our  family  apartment 
on  the  corner  of  the  building  across  the  corridor  from 
the  studio,  to  look  at  a  collection  of  photographs 
which  I  had  made  in  1855-6-7,  in  Rome  and  Florence. 
While  sitting  in  the  rocking-chair,  he  took  my  little 
son  on  his  lap  and  spoke  kindly  to  him,  asking  his 
name,  age,  etc.  I  held  the  photographs  up  and  ex 
plained  them  to  him,  but  I  noticed  a  growing  weariness 
and  his  eyelids  closed  occasionally  as  if  he  were  sleepy, 
or  were  thinking  of  something  besides  Grecian  and 
Roman  statuary  and  architecture.  Finally,  he  said: 
"These  things  must  be  very  interesting  to  you,  Mr. 
Volk,  but  the  truth  is  I  don't  know  much  of  history, 
and  all  I  do  know  of  it  I  have  learned  from  law- 
books." 

The  sittings  were  continued  daily  until  the  Thurs 
day  following,  and  during  their  continuance  he  would 
talk  almost  unceasingly,  telling  some  of  the  funniest 
and  most  laughable  of  stories,  but  he  talked  little 
of  politics  or  religion  during  those  sittings.  He  said: 
"I  am  bored  nearly  every  time  I  sit  down  to  a  public 
dining-table  by  some  one  pitching  into  me  on  politics." 
Upon  one  occasion  he  spoke  most  enthusiastically  of 


364  Abraham  Lincoln 

his  profound  admiration  of  Henry  Clay,  saying  that 
he  "almost  worshipped  him." 

I  remember  also,  that  he  paid  a  high  compliment 
to  the  late  Gen.  William  A.  Richardson,  and  said: 
"I  regard  him  as  one  of  the  truest  men  that  ever 
lived;  he  sticks  to  Judge  Douglas  through  thick  and 
thin — never  deserted  him  and  never  will.  I  admire 
such  a  man!  By  the  by,  Mr.  Volk,  he  is  now  in  town, 
and  stopping  at  the  Tremont.  May  I  bring  him  with 
me  tomorrow  to  see  the  bust?"  Accordingly  he 
brought  him  and  two  other  old  friends,  ex-Lieut. - 
Gov.  McMurtry  of  Illinois  and  Ebenezer  Peck,  all  of 
whom  looked  a  moment  at  the  clay  model,  saying  it 
was  "just  like  him!"  Then  they  began  to  tell  stories 
and  rehearse  reminiscences,  one  after  another.  I  can 
imagine  I  now  hear  their  hearty  laughs,  just  as  I  can 
see,  as  if  photographed,  the  tall  figure  of  Lincoln 
striding  across  that  stubble-field. 

Many  people,  presumably  political  aspirants  with 
an  eye  to  future  prospects,  besieged  my  door  for 
interviews,  but  I  made  it  a  rule  to  keep  it  locked, 
and  I  think  Mr.  Lincoln  appreciated  the  precaution. 

The  last  sitting  was  given  Thursday  morning  and  I 
noticed  that  Mr.  Lincoln  was  in  something  of  a  hurry. 
I  had  finished  the  head  but  desired  to  represent  his 
breast  and  brawny  shoulders  as  nature  presented 
them;  so  he  stripped  off  his  coat,  waistcoat,  shirt, 
cravat,  and  collar,  threw  them  on  a  chair,  pulled  his 
undershirt  down  a  short  distance,  tying  the  sleeves 


The  Lincoln  Life-Mask          365 

behind  him,  and  stood  up  without  a  murmur  for  an 
hour  or  so.  I  then  said  that  I  was  done  and  was  a 
thousand  times  obliged  to  him  for  his  promptness  and 
patience,  and  offered  to  assist  him  to  re-dress  but  he 
said:  "No,  I  can  do  it  better  alone."  I  kept  at  my 
work  without  looking  toward  him,  wishing  to  catch 
the  form  as  accurately  as  possible  while  it  was  fresh 
in  my  memory.  Mr.  Lincoln  left  hurriedly,  saying  he 
had  an  engagement,  and  with  a  cordial  "Good-bye! 
I  will  see  you  again  soon, "  passed  out.  A  few  moments 
after,  I  recognized  his  steps  rapidly  returning.  The 
door  opened,  and  in  he  came,  exclaiming:  "Hello,  Mr. 
Volk!  I  got  down  on  the  sidewalk  and  found  I  had 
forgotten  to  put  on  my  undershirt,  and  thought  it 
wouldn't  do  to  go  through  the  streets  this  way." 
Sure  enough,  there  were  the  sleeves  of  that  garment 
dangling  below  the  skirt  of  his  broadcloth  frock-coat! 
I  went  at  once  to  his  assistance,  and  helped  him  to 
undress  and  re-dress  all  right,  and  out  he  went,  with 
a  hearty  laugh  at  the  absurdity  of  the  thing. 

On  Thursday,  May  i8th,  following,  Mr.  Lincoln 
received  the  nomination  on  the  third  ballot  for 
President  of  the  United  States.  And  it  happened  that 
on  the  same  day  I  was  on  the  cars,  nearing  Springfield. 
About  midday  we  reached  Bloomington,  and  there 
learned  of  his  nomination.  At  three  or  four  o'clock 
we  arrived  at  our  destination.  The  afternoon  was 
lovely — bright  and  sunny,  neither  too  warm  nor  too 


366  Abraham  Lincoln 

cool;  the  grass,  trees,  and  the  hosts  of  blooming  roses, 
so  profuse  in  Springfield,  appeared  to  be  vying  with 
the  ringing  bells  and  the  waving  flags. 

As  soon  as  I  had  brushed  off  the  dust  and  registered 
at  the  old  Chenery  House,  I  went  straight  to  Mr. 
Lincoln's  unpretentious  little  two-story  house.  He 
saw  me  from  his  door  or  window  coming  down  the 
street,  and  as  I  entered  the  gate,  he  was  on  the  plat 
form  in  front  of  the  door,  and  quite  alone.  His  face 
looked  radiant.  I  exclaimed:  "I  am  the  first  man 
from  Chicago,  I  believe,  who  has  the  honour  of  con 
gratulating  you  on  your  nomination  for  President." 
Then  those  two  great  hands  took  both  of  mine  with  a 
grasp  never  to  be  forgotten.  And  while  shaking,  I 
said:  "Now,  that  you  will  doubtless  be  the  next 
President  of  the  United  States  I  want  to  make  a 
statue  of  you,  and  shall  do  my  best  to  do  you  justice." 
Said  he:  "I  don't  doubt  it,  for  I  have  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  you  are  an  honest  man,"  and  with 
that  greeting  I  thought  my  hands  were  in  a  fair  way  of 
being  crushed.  I  was  invited  into  the  parlour  and  soon 
Mrs.  Lincoln  entered  holding  a  rose  bouquet  in  her 
hand,  which  she  presented  to  me  after  the  introduc 
tion;  and  in  return  I  gave  her  a  cabinet  size  bust  of 
her  husband,  which  I  had  modelled  from  the  large  one, 
and  happened  to  have  with  me.  Before  leaving  the 
house  it  was  arranged  that  Mr.  Lincoln  would  give 
Saturday  forenoon  to  obtaining  full-length  photo 
graphs  to  serve  me  for  the  proposed  statue. 


The  Lincoln  Life-Mask          367 

On  Saturday  evening  the  committee  appointed  by 
the  convention  to  notify  Mr.  Lincoln  formally  of  his 
nomination,  headed  by  Mr.  Ashmun  of  Massachusetts, 
reached  Springfield  by  special  train,  bearing  a  large 
number  of  people,  two  or  three  hundred  of  whom 
carried  rails  on  their  shoulders,  marching  in  military 
style  from  the  train  to  the  old  State  House  Hall 
of  Representatives,  where  they  stacked  them  like 
muskets.  The  evening  was  beautiful  and  clear,  and 
the  entire  population  was  astir.  The  bells  pealed,  flags 
waved,  and  cannon  thundered  forth  the  triumphant 
nomination  of  Springfield's  favourite  and  distinguished 
citizen.  The  bonfires  blazed  brightly  and  especially  in 
front  of  that  prim-looking  white  house  on  Eighth 
Street.  The  committee  and  the  vast  crowd  following, 
passed  in  at  the  front  door  and  made  their  exit  through 
the  kitchen  door  in  the  rear,  Mr.  Lincoln  giving  them 
all  a  hearty  shake  of  the  hand  as  they  passed  him  in 
the  parlour. 

After  it  was  all  over  and  the  crowd  dispersed,  late 
in  the  evening  I  took  a  stroll  and  passed  the  house. 
A  few  small  boys,  only,  were  in  the  street,  trying  to 
keep  up  a  little  blaze  among  the  dying  embers  of  the 
bonfire.  One  of  them  cried  out : 

"Here,  Bill  Lincoln— here's  a  stick." 

Another  chimed  in: 

"I've  got  a  good  one,  Bill" — a  picket  he  had  slyly 
knocked  from  a  door-yard  fence. 


368  Abraham  Lincoln 

By  previous  appointment  I  was  to  cast  Mr.  Lin 
coln's  hands  on  the  Sunday  following  this  memorable 
Saturday,  at  nine  A.M.  I  found  him  ready,  but  he 
looked  more  grave  and  serious  than  he  had  appeared 
on  the  previous  days.  I  wished  him  to  hold  something 
in  his  right  hand  and  he  looked  for  a  piece  of  pasteboard 
but  could  find  none.  I  told  him  a  round  stick  would 
do  as  well  as  anything.  Thereupon  he  went  to  the 
woodshed  and  I  heard  the  saw  go,  and  he  soon  returned 
to  the  dining-room  (where  I  did  the  work),  whittling 
off  the  end  of  a  piece  of  broom-handle.  I  remarked  to 
him  that  he  need  not  whittle  off  the  edges. 

"Oh,  well,"  said  he,  "I  thought  I  would  like  to 
have  it  nice." 

When  I  had  successfully  cast  the  mold  of  the  right 
hand,  I  began  the  left,  pausing  a  few  moments  to 
hear  Mr.  Lincoln  tell  me  about  a  scar  on  the  thumb. 

"You  have  heard  that  they  call  me  a  rail-splitter, 
and  you  saw  them  carrying  rails  in  the  procession 
Saturday  evening;  well,  it  is  true  that  I  did  split  rails, 
and  one  day,  while  I  was  sharpening  a  wedge  on  a  log, 
the  ax  glanced  and  nearly  took  my  thumb  off,  and 
there  is  the  scar,  you  see." 

The  right  hand  appeared  swollen  as  compared  with 
the  left  on  account  of  excessive  hand-shaking  the 
evening  before;  this  difference  is  distinctly  shown  in 
the  cast. 

That  Sunday  evening  I  returned  to  Chicago  with 
the  molds  of  his  hands,  three  photographic  negatives 


The  Lincoln  Life-Mask          369 

of  him,  the  identical  black  alpaca  campaign-suit  of 
1858,  and  a  pair  of  Lynn  newly-made  pegged  boots. 
The  clothes  were  all  burned  up  in  the  great  Chicago 
fire.  The  casts  of  the  face  and  hands  I  saved  by  taking 
them  with  me  to  Rome  and  they  have  crossed  the  sea 
four  times. 

The  last  time  I  saw  Mr.  Lincoln  was  in  January, 
1861,  at  his  house  in  Springfield.  His  little  parlour 
was  full  of  friends  and  politicians.  He  introduced 
me  to  them  all,  and  remarked  to  me  aside,  that  since 
he  had  sat  to  me  for  his  bust,  he  had  lost  forty  pounds 
in  weight.  This  was  easily  perceptible,  for  the  lines 
of  his  jaws  were  very  sharply  defined  through  the 
short  beard  which  he  was  allowing  to  grow.  Then  he 
returned  to  the  company  and  announced  in  a  general 
way  that  I  had  made  a  bust  of  him  before  his  nomina 
tion  and  that  he  was  then  giving  daily  sittings  at  the 
St.  Nicholas  Hotel  to  another  sculptor;  that  he  had 
sat  to  him  for  a  week  or  more,  but  could  not  see  the 
likeness,  though  he  might  yet  bring  it  out. 

"But,"  continued  Mr.  Lincoln,  "in  two  or  three 
days  after  Mr.  Volk  commenced  my  bust,  there  was 
the  animal  himself." 

And  this  was  about  the  last,  if  not  the  last  remark 
I  ever  heard  him  utter,  except  the  good-bye  and  his 
good  wishes  for  my  success. 

I  have  omitted  to  say  that  when  sitting  in  April  for 
the  model,  and  speaking  of  his  Cooper  Institute  speech, 

24 


370  Abraham  Lincoln 

delivered  in  New  York  a  short  time  before,  he  said 
that  he  had  arranged  and  composed  this  speech  in 
his  mind  while  going  on  the  cars  from  Camden  to 
Jersey  City.  When  having  his  photograph  taken  at 
Springfield,  he  spoke  of  Colonel  Ellsworth,  whom  he 
had  met  a  short  time  before,  and  whose  company  of 
Zouaves  he  had  seen  drill.  Lincoln  said: 
"He  is  the  greatest  little  man  I  ever  met." 


COMMENTS   AND   CORRECTIONS  ON    "THE     LINCOLN 
LIFE-MASK   AND    HOW    IT    WAS    MADE" 


The  contribution  to  The  Century  Magazine  of 
December,  1881,  by  Leonard  Volk,  giving  the 
circumstances  preceding  and  connected  with  "The 
Lincoln  Life-Mask  and  How  It  Was  Made/'  is  a 
very  valuable  contribution  in  many  ways. 

To  the  artists  and  sculptors  this  mask  is  of  indis 
pensable  value,  for  with  them  it  has  settled  forever 
the  bony  formation  and  facial  outlines  of  Lincoln's 
remarkable  face  and  head.  In  this  respect  it  can 
never  have  any  adequate  comparison.  To  the 
student  of  Lincoln's  personal  peculiarities,  the 
story  Mr.  Volk  gives  of  his  interviews  with 
Lincoln  during  the  sittings  is  exceedingly  interest 
ing  and  revealing  in  many  ways  and  we  are  grate 
ful  for  the  brief  account  he  has  written. 

But  there  are  explanations  called  for  by  some  of 


The  Lincoln  Life-Mask          371 

Mr.  Volk's  descriptions  of  Lincoln's  personality 
and  manners,  and  corrections  required  by  other 
statements  he  makes  that  he  no  doubt  inadvert 
ently  placed  in  his  otherwise  most  excellent  account. 
The  most  important  correction  required  is  the 
statement  in  Mr.  Volk's  last  paragraph  where  he 
reports  Lincoln  saying  that  the  Cooper  Institute 
speech  was  "composed  in  his  mind  while  going  on 
the  cars  from  Camden  to  Jersey  City."  Because 
of  my  own  opportunities  for  observation  of 
Lincoln  while  near  him  through  several  years,  I 
wish  to  make  these  comments,  correcting  some 
and  explaining  others  of  Volk's  statements  in  his 
Century  Magazine  article. 

In  his  sixth  paragraph  Mr.  Volk  says,  at  his 
first  introduction  Lincoln  grasped  his  hand  in 
"both  his  large  hands  with  a  vise-like  grip  and 
looked  down  into  my  face  with  his  beaming,  dark, 
dull  eyes."  That  Lincoln's  eyes  had  all  these 
shades  of  expression  as  well  as  some  others  is  quite 
correct;  but  he  never  bestowed  their  variety  on  a 
stranger  at  any  one  time,  as  Mr.  Volk's  pen  records 
their  appearance  when  "beaming"  on  him  at  this 
first  introduction.  Volk  meant  no  doubt  to  express 
by  his  description  of  Lincoln's  eyes,  that  they  were 
changeful  in  their  expression  far  more  than  the 
ordinary  men  he  had  met  in  his  professional  work. 


372  Abraham  Lincoln 

He  gives  in  that  sentence  an  artist's  appreciation 
of  Lincoln's  expressive  eyes  as  he  recalled  seeing 
them  during  the  various  sittings  Lincoln  had  with 
him  twenty  years  before. 

As  I  recall  the  variations  of  Lincoln's  changeful 
features,  and  more  especially  his  expressive  eyes, 
they  never  impressed  me  as  rapidly  changeful  ones. 
Mentally  he  was  slow  in  his  transitions  from  one  of 
his  moods  to  another.  All  his  facial  muscles  of 
expression  responded  more  readily  to  reveal  his 
thoughts  than  did  his  eyes.  The  eyes  were  reserved 
and  lit  up  later  to  reveal  the  inner  fires  of  Lincoln's 
feelings  and  thoughts. 

Mr.  Volk  tells  of  meeting  Lincoln  again  at 
Chicago,  "in  the  United  States  District  Court 
room,  his  feet  on  the  edge  of  a  table,  one  of  his 
fingers  thrust  in  his  mouth,  and  his  long,  dark 
hair  standing  out  at  every  imaginable  angle, 
apparently  uncombed  for  a  week.  He  was  sur 
rounded  by  a  group  of  lawyers,  such  as  James  F. 
Joy,  Isaac  N.  Arnold,  Thomas  Hoyne,  and  others.1' 

The  position  of  Lincoln  with  his  feet  on  the 
table  and  the  view  of  him  with  his  "dark  hair  in 
every  imaginable  angle,"  were  characteristic  ones 
of  Lincoln  in  his  easy  office-negligee  manner.  The 
careless  arrangement  of  his  locks  was  caused  by  a 


The  Lincoln  Life-Mask          373 

habit  he  had,  of  which  he  was  unconscious,  of 
frequently  thrusting  by  a  quick  movement  of  first 
one  hand  and  then  the  other  upward  from  the 
temple  through  his  hair,  past  the  crown  of  his 
head.  This  left  his  locks  in  that  careless  abandon 
Volk  describes.  The  manner  of  his  thrusting  his 
fingers  through  his  hair  was  so  frequent  and 
characteristic  with  Lincoln  that  Volk  made  a 
mistake  in  consenting  to  Lincoln's  suggestion 
that  he  have  his  hair  trimmed  before  taking  his 
mask.  He  usually  wore  his  hair  longer  than  Volk's 
cast  shows,  and  those  who  recall  Lincoln  as  he 
appeared  in  the  office  life,  the  court  room,  or  out 
door  platform  speaking,  associate  his  rugged  and 
expressive  face  with  the  crown  of  abundant  locks 
that  he  wore  and  that  had  been  tossed  by  his  long 
fingers  in  unstudied  abandon  at  all  angles  over  his 
head.  The  short  hair  in  Volk's  mask  of  Lincoln 
with  the  ears  standing  out  less  at  right  angles 
from  the  head  than  they  did,  are  the  only  serious 
defects  noticed  by  those  who  saw  him  daily  during 
his  residence  in  Springfield. 

To  the  additional  mention  by  Volk  in  the  same 
sentence,  that  Lincoln  had  "one  of  his  fingers 
thrust  in  his  mouth,"  I  must  demur  and  contra 
dict.  Lincoln  was  neat  and  in  all  personal  ways 


374  Abraham  Lincoln 

^ 

free  from  offensive  peculiarities.  He  was  never 
addicted  to  so  crude  and  unsightly  a  mannerism  as 
" holding  one  of  his  fingers  thrust  in  his  mouth." 
This  charge  requires  a  special  explanation  of 
another  of  Lincoln's  habits  for  correctly  under 
standing  Mr.  Volk's  mistake.  Lincoln  had  at 
times,  the  peculiarity  of  supporting  his  face  with 
his  hand,  when  he  was  attentively  listening  to  some 
one,  or  meditating  on  a  subject  that  absorbed  his 
thoughts.  He  was  then  oblivious  to  all  else  and 
had  at  such  times  a  habit  of  placing  the  thumb  of 
his  left  hand  below  his  chin  with  his  index  finger 
partly  curved  and  extending  to  his  lips,  or  some 
times  laying  across  them  and  along  the  side  of  his 
nose.  This  was  no  doubt  the  position  that  Volk 
noticed  and  tells  us  about,  and  mistook  as  being 
"the  finger  thrust  in  his  mouth." 

When  Lincoln  was  sitting  at  his  office  table 
writing  and  had  paused,  seeming  to  be  meditating 
of  what  he  should  write,  he  usually  placed  his 
left  elbow  on  the  table,  his  chin  on  his  thumb,  with 
the  index  finger  as  described  above,  and  the  three 
other  fingers  closed  on  the  palm  of  the  hand,  thus 
with  his  thumb  partly  supporting  the  chin  that 
rested  in  his  large  hand.  I  have  seen  him,  in  the 
privacy  of  the  office,  maintain  this  position  as 
immovable  as  a  statue  for  more  than  half  an  hour, 


The  Lincoln  Life-Mask          375 

though  generally  less  time,  if  not  writing,  but 
while  he  was  listening  to  some  one  addressing  him 
on  a  subject  he  was  deeply  interested  in. 

Mr.  Volk  was  correct  in  saying  there  was  a 
foot's  difference  in  the  height  of  Senator  Douglas 
and  Lincoln.  The  latter 's  height  was,  however, 
more  than  six  feet  one  inch,  as  Volk  says.  Lincoln 
was  six  feet  four  inches,  and  Douglas'  height  was 
certainly  not  less  than  five  feet  four  inches,  instead 
of  five  feet  one  inch,  as  Volk  gives  it.  The  "  Little 
Giant"  was  always  sensitive  about  any  reflections 
regarding  his  height  and  Volk's  taking  three  inches 
from  his  crown  must  not  remain  uncorrected. 

To  any  one  familiar  with  a  gentleman's  attire 
it  is  manifestly  absurd  that  Lincoln  discovered 
after  leaving  Volk's  studio  and  descending  the 
stairs  that  the  "sleeves  of  his  undershirt  were 
dangling  below  the  skirts  of  his  broadcloth  frock- 
coat,  "  as  Volk  described  them.  It  is  quite  evident 
that  in  the  first  event,  when  the  undergarment 
having  been  released  from  his  arms  and  neck  and 
"the  sleeves  tied  behind  him,"  while  Volk  was 
taking  the  cast,  that  it  would  have  there  lain  in 
folds  around  Lincoln's  waist.  When  the  latter 
put  on  his  outer  linen  shirt  and  his  vest  and  then 
his  frock-coat  over  all,  the  offending  negligee 


376  Abraham  Lincoln 

would  only  have  been  visible  by  the  enlarged 
waist  line  revealing  it.  It  was  probable,  by  this 
fulness  that  Lincoln  himself  recognized  he  was  not 
properly  "harnessed  up  for  the  street,"  as  he 
would  usually  have  remarked,  as  the  reason  for  his 
return  to  the  studio  to  properly  arrange  this  under 
garment.  Why  do  reminiscent  pens,  when  writing 
about  Lincoln,  so  persistently  seek  the  most  gro 
tesque  posing  of  him  that  they  possibly  can  present, 
instead  of  describing  the  clean,  plain,  simple-man 
nered  man  that  he  always  was?  They  reflect  their 
own  coarseness  and  vulgarity,  and  not  Lincoln's. 

This  latter  incident  makes  opportune  the  men 
tion  here  that  Mrs.  Lincoln  was  in  the  habit  of 
giving  her  careful  attention  to  the  quality  and 
fitting  of  all  articles  connected  with  her  husband's 
wardrobe  as  well  as  to  their  proper  distribution  on 
his  person  when  he  was  dressed  and  left  their  home, 
or  wherever  they  were  together  when  away  from 
home.  Lincoln  had  become  so  accustomed  to  this 
thoughtful  oversight  by  Mrs.  Lincoln  that  when 
away  from  his  wife's  inspection,  he  was  more 
helpless  in  matters  regarding  his  health,  his  dress, 
and  his  personal  appearance,  than  most  men  are. 
His  mind  was  always  engaged  on  things  he  deemed 
more  important  to  him  than  his  clothing  or  his 


The  Lincoln  Life-Mask          377 

food,  and  this  little  omission  in  his  dressing  to 
leave  the  studio  very  well  illustrates  his  inatten 
tion  to  "  Those  little  links  which  make  up  the  chain 
of  woman's  happiness,"  that  Miss  Owen,  in  1866, 
mentioned  about  Lincoln's  personal  habits,  as  they 
appeared  to  her  as  early  as  in  1836  and  1837,  when 
they  were  friends  at  Salem.  This  neglect  was  ap 
parent  through  the  years  I  was  near  him,  and  if  Mrs. 
Lincoln  was  away  from  their  home  for  several  days, 
this  absence  was  more  or  less  recognized  at  the  office, 
in  Lincoln's  personal  apparel,  and  the  disregard  he 
had  of  any  regular  hours  for  his  meal-time. 

The  most  important  correction  to  be  made  in 
Mr.  Volk's  article  is  the  statement  he  makes  in  his 
last  paragraph.  In  that  he  reports  Lincoln  saying, 
"when  sitting  in  April  for  the  model,  and  speaking 
of  the  Cooper  Institute  speech,  delivered  in  New 
York  a  short  time  before,  he  [Lincoln]  said  he  '  had 
arranged  and  composed  this  speech  in  his  mind  while 
going  from  Camden  to  Jersey  City.' '  So  seriously 
is  Mr.  Volk's  memory  at  fault  in  his  quoting  Lincoln 
on  this  subject,  and  so  very  different  are  the  facts, 
from  his  statement,  that  it  is  important  for  the  truth 
of  history,  to  mention  the  facts  and  relate  some 
incidents  connected  with  the  preparation  and  de 
livery  of  that  celebrated  Cooper  Institute  speech. 


37$  Abraham  Lincoln 

I  was  in  the  Lincoln  &  Herndon  law  office  daily 
during  the  three  or  four  months  while  Lincoln — 
between  the  intervals  of  his  law  business — was 
writing  and  revising  this  great  speech.  He  spent 
most  of  this  time,  at  first,  in  the  study  and  arrange 
ment  of  the  historical  facts  he  decided  to  use. 
These  he  collected  or  verified  at  the  State  Library. 
His  discussions  with  Herndon  and  the  Hon.  New 
ton  Bateman  whose  office  adjoined  theirs,  as  to 
the  historical  facts  and  the  arrangement  of  these 
in  his  speech,  were  frequent  and  full  of  interest  to 
the  two  young  law  students  who  were  privileged 
to  be  present  at  that  time. 

I  have  told  the_story  of  the  preparation,  delivery, 
and  estimate  of  this  Cooper  Institute  speech  by 
New  York  people,  in  this  volume  beginning  on 
page  247  to  which  I  refer  my  readers.  This  gives, 
with  a  fulness  of  detail  I  will  not  here  repeat,  the 
circumstances  connected  with  Lincoln's  prepara 
tion  for,  and  his  studious  care  in,  the  composition 
of  the  Cooper  Institute  speech.  Without  a  doubt 
he  devoted  more  time  to  research  and  gave  more 
thought  to  this  speech  than  any  he  ever  delivered. 
When  he  left  Springfield  for  New  York  for  its 
delivery,  he  carried  with  him  the  manuscript 
finished,  just  as  he  delivered  it. 


Characteristic  Moods  of  Abraham 
Lincoln 


379 


A  blend  of  mirth  and  sadness,  smiles  and  tears; 
A  quaint  knight-errant  of  the  pioneers; 
A  homely  hero  born  of  star  and  sod; 
A  Peasant-Prince;  a  Masterpiece  of  God. 

WALTER  M  ALONE. 


380 


XVII 

CHARACTERISTIC  MOODS  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

IN  the  years  when  I  was  intimate  with  the  daily 
life  at  the  Lincoln  and  Herndon  office,  I  learned 
to  know  and  respect  the  peculiarity  of  Lincoln's 
moods.  These  were  interchangeable  with  each 
other  from  time  to  time,  and  explain,  or  interpret, 
peculiarities  of  his  character  which  were  often 
greatly  misunderstood  or  misinterpreted  by  those 
not  intimate  with  his  daily  life.  These  tempera 
mental  peculiarities  I  may  describe  under  general 
terms  as  three  characteristics,  or  moods,  which 
I  wish  to  record  as  I  knew  them. 

The  first  to  be  mentioned,  and  by  far  the  strong 
est  and  most  difficult  to  interrupt,  or  even  pene 
trate,  while  he  was  under  its  control,  was  his 
power  to  concentrate  strictly  all  his  mental  facul 
ties  on  the  task  or  purpose  immediately  before 
him.  In  this  mood  he  was  absolutely  impenetrable 
to  anything  else,  or  by  any  other  person.  He 

was  thoroughly  oblivious  to  surroundings.     Every 

381 


382  Abraham  Lincoln 

faculty  of  this  remarkable  man,"while  in  this  mood, 
was  focussed  upon  the  fact  or  problem  before  him, 
viewing  it  from  all  angles  and  endeavouring  with 
the  keenest  logic  and  most  fertile,  truth-inspired 
imagination  to  solve  any  problem  or  settle  any 
question  of  fact  or  duty  which  challenged  his 
attention.  No  person  or  influence  could  distract 
or  hasten  any  of  his  peculiar  mental  processes  at 
such  times. 

I  could  cite  numerous  times  and  circumstances 
illustrating  this  mood  of  Lincoln  that  came  under 
my  observation  in  Springfield.  Those  who  knew 
him  in  Springfield  and  were  afterwards  near 
him  in  Washington,  with  whom  I  have  spoken  of 
this  mood,  told  me  that  this  peculiar  characteristic 
became  more  and  more  a  fixed  habit  there  under 
the  pressure  of  his  Presidential  duties.  I  will 
refer  to  one  instance  and  that  on  an  occasion  of 
much  historic  importance. 

During  the  last  weeks  of  his  residence  in  Spring 
field  it  was  difficult  for  him  to  find  any  place  where 
he  could  be  free  from  the  interruption  of  callers. 
His  home,  his  office  in  the  State  House,  or  the 
State  Library,  afforded  him  no  privacy  by  day 
or  night.  To  avoid  this,  Mr.  C.  M.  Smith — his 
brother-in-law — fitted  up  a  room  in  the  third 


Characteristic  Moods  of  Lincoln   383 

story  over  his  store  for  Lincoln's  private  use, 
which  could  be  entered  only  through  the  private 
office  of  Mr.  Smith,  in  the  back  part  of  his  large 
storeroom.  This  arrangement  was  known  by  a 
limited  few,  and  he  was  to  be  seen  when  there 
only  by  persons  bringing  a  line  to  Mr.  Smith  by 
Herndon.  It  was  in  that  room  that  he  prepared 
his  first  inaugural  address,  and  thither  I  was  sent 
twice  by  Herndon  with  books  and  clippings  which 
the  latter,  at  Lincoln's  request,  had  selected  from 
the  State  Library,  the  law  office,  and  Herndon's 
home  library,  for  study  before  preparing  that 
remarkable  state  paper.  On  my  return  the 
last  time,  Herndon  asked  me  if  any  word  was 
sent  back.  I  replied  that  I  had  no  message  and 
was  sure  Lincoln  had  not  seen  me  when  I  came 
in  and  placed  the  packages  on  the  table  before 
him,  or  when  I  left  the  room.  To  this  he  replied 
with  a  satisfied  smile,  "That's  what  I  expected; 
he  wishes  nothing  now  so  much  as  to  be  left 
alone." 

In  this  mood  lay  his  remarkable  capacity  for 
that  special  study  necessary  during  the  first 
months  of  his  official  duties  as  President,  covering 
as  it  did  so  many  new  executive  functions  and 
judicial  fields  whose  problems  he  must  solve  for 
himself.  In  the  later  and  more  momentous  years 


384  Abraham  Lincoln 

this  mood  fitted  him  finally  to  be  the  master  of  all 
politicians  and  of  most  of  the  military  men  around 
him,  and  the  equal  of  his  best  generals  in  outlining 
the  strategy  of  campaigns  during  the  closing  years 
of  the  Civil  War.  This  mood  was  by  no  means 
always  a  happy  one  to  those  near  him  in  public 
or  private  affairs,  and  even  the  domestic  life.  I 
suggest  that  this  mood  may  explain  some  of  the 
peculiar  trials  Mrs.  Lincoln  endured,  and  to 
which  she  could  not  at  all  times  pleasantly  adjust 
herself. 

The  second  mood  was  a  blank,  unapproachable 
habit  of  inner  meditation;  at  times  a  sombre 
black  melancholy.  There  are  depths  in  every 
great  soul  where  none  should  intermeddle  or  try  to 
fathom.  The  Lincoln  of  this  mood  was  a  mystery 
to  which  even  those  nearest  and  dearest  to  him 
were  as  strangers,  and  they  failed  to  understand. 
There  was  to  me  always  an  unapproachable 
grandeur  in  the  man  when  he  was  in  this  mood 
of  inner  solitude.  I  approach  this  part  of  my 
record  with  awe  and  not  analysis.  It  was  a  part 
of  his  remarkable  make-up  that  I  reverenced 
then,  and  in  memory  I  now  refrain  from  any 
extended  mention  of  this  peculiar  eclipse  while 
under  its  power  that  occasionally  shadowed  his 


Characteristic  Moods  of  Lincoln    385 

life.  It  isolated  and — I  always  thought — ex 
alted  him  above  his  ordinary  life,  or  the  compre 
hension  and  companionship  of  his  associates,  most 
of  whom  misunderstand  and  misinterpreted  him 
whenever  he  was  in  this  mood.  History  will 
discern  and  reverently  disclose  the  strength  in 
Lincoln's  character  and  the  executive  foresight 
for  which  this  mood  gave  him  revealings.  When 
in  this  mood  it  was  best  to  leave  him  severely 
alone.  He  wished  it,  and  if  he  had  companion 
ship  then  which  was  silent  also,  he  plainly  mani 
fested  his  appreciation — I  might  almost  say,  his 
gratitude — for  the  quiet,  silent,  friendly  fellow 
ship  which  understood  him  and  granted  the 
sociability  of  its  sympathetic  silence.  He  would 
express  this  appreciation  by  sometimes  turning 
those  deep,  sad,  tender  eyes,  brimming  with  the 
loneliness  of  dry  tears,  as  he  raised  them  in  a  blank 
gaze  upon  his  companion.  Herndon's  uniform 
respect  and  deference  for  this  silent  mood  in  his 
partner  became  one  of  the  strong  bonds  connecting 
their  long  and  peaceful  relation. 

How  dominant  this  mood  was  in  some  of  the 
darker  days  of  his  Presidential  years  may  appear 
from  the  following  words  which  I  quote  from 
Edward  Dicey,  the  English  historian.  He  was 
competent  to  testify  of  those  intense  years  in 

35 


386  Abraham  Lincoln 

Lincoln's  life,  by  frequent  observations  he  had 
of  him  in  Washington.     He  writes: 

Never  in  my  knowledge  have  I  ever  seen  a  sadder 
face  than  that  of  the  late  President  during  some  of 
the  times  his  features  were  familiar  to  me.  It  is  so 
easy  to  be  wise  after  the  event;  but  it  seems  to  me 
now  that  someone  ought  somehow  to  have  foreseen 
that  the  stamp  of  a  sad  end  was  impressed  by  nature 
on  that  rugged  haggard  face.  The  exceeding  sadness 
of  the  eyes  and  their  strange  sweetness  were  the  one 
redeeming  feature  in  a  face  of  unusual  plainness,  and 
there  was  about  them  that  odd,  weird  look,  which 
some  eyes  possess,  of  seeming  to  see  more  than  the 
objects  in  the  world  around. 

This  was  pre-eminently  the  mood  of  Lincoln 
through  much  of  the  appalling  summer  of  1864. 
Anxiety,  responsibility,  care,  thought,  disaster, 
defeat,  and  the  unaccountable  impending  shadows 
of  the  dark  days  before  him  that  no  human  vision 
could  penetrate,  focussed  their  fiercest  into  that 
year  of  his  life.  The  injustice  of  friends  and  the 
envenomed  hate  of  foes  wore  into  his  giant  frame. 
He  exclaimed  one  day:  "I  feel  as  though  I  shall 
never  be  glad  again!*' 

The  third,  and  the  most  usual,  mood  of  Lin 
coln  was  that  of  complete  relaxation,  of  sheer 


Characteristic  Moods  of  Lincoln   387 

irresponsibility,  of  complete  withdrawal  from  all 
the  affairs  that  vex  or  disturb.  Happy,  indeed, 
were  the  times  one  met  him  in  this  mood.  He 
was  then  the  most  receptive  of  men,  as  well  as 
the  most  cheerful  and  bountiful  dispenser  of  all 
his  rich  store  of  varied  experiences,  of  his  quaint, 
original  stories,  and  his  revealings  of  his  thoughts 
and  feelings;  ready  for  the  widest  variety  of  sub 
jects;  easily  passing  from  one  interest  to  another; 
enjoying  equally  any  and  all  things  in  turn, 
the  most  genial  and 'cheerful  of  men.  All  this 
happened  without~a  trace  of  self-consciousness. 
This  mood  was  the  more  habitual,  and  the  one 
in  which  most  people  remember  him,  and  which 
history  will  cherish  most  and  garner  in  its  memory. 
But  aside  from  the  pleasure  of  his  companionship, 
when  in  this  genial  mood,  we  must  remember  that 
it  was  from  the  two  former  ones  that  the  brooding 
and  fruitful  hours  of  Lincoln's  life  came.  Through 
the  depths  of  such  mysterious  concentrations  and 
silences  arose  our  masterful  First  American. 


Abraham  Lincoln's  Position  in 
History 


389 


A  mountain  is  a  mystery;  such  was  Lincoln.  It  is 
tall,  isolated,  alone;  so  was  he.  It  has  fissures  and 
crevices  that  would  disfigure  the  beauty  of  a  hill,  but 
which  constitute  no  blemish  on  its  massive  nobility. 
Amid  its  crags  are  sheltered  nooks  where  flowers 
bloom  and  streamlets  flash  in  the  sunlight.  But  there 
are  also  huge  masses  of  denuded  rock  which  tell  of 
the  harsh  attrition  of  earlier  times.  The  clouds  that 
gather  about  its  peak  lend  it  an  air  of  aloofness  and 
melancholy.  Mighty  storms  make  war  upon  it, 
waging  battle  with  the  swift  strokes  of  lightning  to 
the  music  of  deep-toned  thunders.  But  it  remains 
unchanged,  unshaken.  In  all  moods,  in  all  mists, 
its  mission  is  the  same.  The  same  God  that  made 
the  mountain  made  the  man,  and  His  ways  are  past 
finding  out. 

JOSEPH  FORT  NEWTON. 


390 


XVIII 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  POSITION  IN  HISTORY 

IT  may  be  worth  while,  in  closing  my  pages 
of  personal  reminiscences  of  Lincoln,  to  glance 
before  and  after  and  pass  in  hasty  review  the 
three  men  of  this  continent  whose  services  have 
so  appealed  to  mankind,  and  whose  history  is  our 
most  valuable  and  inspiring  American  heritage; 
the  better  to  see  the  background  against  which 
our  First  American  must  be  studied  and  the 
worth  of  his  labours  estimated. 

History,  in  the  great  conception  of  it,  has  often 
been  compared  to  a  mountain  chain  seen  afar  off 
in  a  clear  sky,  where  the  peaks  seem  linked  to  one 
another,  toward  the  crest  of  the  group.  An 
ingenious  and  learned  writer  has  recently  amplified 
this  image  by  speaking  of  a  set  of  volcanic  islands 
lifting  themselves  out  of  the  sea,  at  such  angles 
and  distances  that  only  the  eye  of  a  bird,  and  not 
of  a  sailor  cruising  among  them,  would  discover 
that  they  are  the  heights  of  one  and  the  same 

391 


392  Abraham  Lincoln 

submerged  range.  The  sailor  is  the  ordinary 
student,  while  the  eagle  is  the  historian  who  takes 
long  views  and  sees  the  whole  scene  in  the  clearer, 
juster  light  of  time. 

Such  a  historian  surveying  the  pageant  of 
American  history,  searching  for  its  epic  periods 
and  its  epochal  men,  would  discern  three  periods 
and  three  personalities  which  have  left  age-lasting 
impress  upon  this  continent.  The  differences  in 
the  times  in  which  they  lived,  and  the  tasks  which 
they  accomplished,  were  not  more  variant  than 
the  differences  of  the  characters  and  individualities 
of  the  master-men  who  wrought  the  work  appointed 
them  to  do.  Above  all  others,  by  the  inspiration 
of  their  lives,  by  the  example  of  their  characters, 
and  by  the  uniqueness  of  their  personalities,  stand 
the  names  and  achievements  of  Columbus, 
Washington,  and  Lincoln. 

One  believed  that  this  continent  existed,  and 
that  by  sailing  westward  across  the  unknown 
waters  a  passageway  would  be  found  for  reach 
ing  eastern  lands.  He  went  from  court  to  court 
through  Europe,  seeking  for  a  hearing  and  plead 
ing  for  friends  to  aid  him.  Year  by  year  he 
followed  his  dream- thought,  which  yielded  him 
only  privation,  failure,  and  ridicule.  Yet  was  he 
undaunted  through  all  those  years  by  the  slow 


Lincoln's  Position  in  History      393 

progress  he  made.  Shattered  hopes  had  no 
agony  of  disappointment  that  could  dismay  or 
turn  him  aside.  Nothing  daunted  his  purpose, 
nothing  quenched  his  ambition.  He  saw  before 
him  always  the  lure  of  new  coast-lines  and  the 
peoples  to  whom  his  coming  would  bring  the 
story  of  the  Cross.  To  him  in  every  sunset  there 
were  promises  of  new  worlds  to  the  adventurous 
keel  that  would  sail  westward.  He  was  a  great 
soul  troubled  by  a  dream,  aflame  with  a  mission. 
Still  he  plead,  he  begged,  he  implored  for  aid 
that  he  might  lead  the  way  into  those  silences  of 
western  seas  which  had  appalled  the  centuries. 

His  church  did  not  believe  him ;  his  King  did  not 
believe  him;  and  the  learned  men  of  his  age  had 
no  faith  in  him  or  his  dream.  All  Europe  scorned 
him.  Nevertheless,  his  intuitions  and  his  reason 
ings  convinced  him  that  he  was  right,  and  he  had 
faith.  A  woman,  only,  believed  in  him.  She 
pledged  the  jewels  of  her  crown,  and  bade  him  go. 
He  sailed.  His  crew  disbelieved,  and  mutinied. 
Alone  he  went,  a  master  ploughing  the  chartless 
waters,  sustained  by  his  settled  conviction; 
alone  he  gazed  westward  through  sleepless  nights 
of  waiting,  until,  behold!  he  saw  a  light — and 
there  was  a  New  World.  Interests  and  scenes 
were  revealed  by  his  adventure  more  vast  and 


394  Abraham  Lincoln 

entrancing  than  any  dream-visions  of  his  past 
He  had  drawn  aside  the  sombre  curtains  that  had 
shadowed  those  western  waves  of  doubt  and 
darkness.  He  had  opened  a  pathway  into  a  new 
continent  which  was  destined  to  be  the  nursery 
and  the  home  of  the  future's  highest  ideals.  The 
times  were  ripe  and  human  hearts  hungered  for 
these  new  lands  that  could  reveal  and  realize  the 
possibilities  of  the  last  great  hopes  of  humanity. 

Years  passed,  and  the  New  World  was  peopled 
by  brave  pioneers,  lovers  of  liberty  and  fugitives 
from  the  injustice  and  oppression  of  ages.  Where 
once  the  red  man  had  roamed  the  forests,  settle 
ments  grew  into  cities.  Then  came  revolt  by 
these  picked  men  from  all  climes  against  the 
King's  government;  for  that  government  enacted 
laws  without  extending  to  the  Colonies  the  equal 
privileges  of  representation  that  freemen  demand. 
There  followed  eight  long  faith-trying  years. 
Amid  a  chaos  of  confusion  and  strife  there  stood 
up  a  calm,  poised,  self-contained  man,  appointed 
of  God  to  establish  liberty  under  the  law,  leading 
his  people  into  the  light.  His  mother-country 
counted  him  a  rebel ;  his  fellow-citizens  were  often 
unjust,  envious,  petty.  Discord  and  dismay 
assailed  him.  He  was  maligned,  defamed,  de- 


Lincoln's  Position  in  History     395 

nounced.  Despite  all,  amidst  jealousies  and 
dissensions  of  which  history  has  left  faint  record 
for  very  shame,  thirteen  Colonies  were  welded 
into  a  nation  destined  to  be  the  first  and  freest 
of  republics.  But  for  the  character  of  Washing 
ton,  who  was  too  great  to  wear  a  crown,  this 
Republic  would  never  have  existed.  Against  his 
massive  nobility  of  manhood  the  angry  storms 
of  partisan  passion  beat  in  vain,  leaving  him 
unmoved,  unscarred.  Firm,  far-seeing,  wise,  he 
brought  forth  on  this  continent  a  new  nation 
"  dedicated  to  the  proposition  that  all  men  are 
created  equal," — the  Constitutional  Nationality 
of  our  United  States. 

Other  years  passed,  and  troublous  times  came 
again — strife  of  brother  against  brother,  of  State 
against  State — and  the  work  of  Washington 
seemed  about  to  be  undone  and  the  hope  of 
humanity  defeated.  Dark  clouds  filled  the  sky, 
bursting  at  last  into  a  storm  of  bitter  hate  and 
bloody  war.  Then,  when  the  hour  of  need  had 
struck,  from  the  valley  of  the  Father  of  Waters 
there  came  a  tall,  homely,  gentle,  strong  man, 
heroic  and  sad,  who  took  the  helm  of  state  in  a 
time  of  revolution  and  guided  it  through  blood 
and  fire  and  tears.  Who,  by  human  foresight, 


396  Abraham  Lincoln 

would  have  chosen  such  a  man  to  lead  the  nation 
out  of  chaos  into  orderly  liberty  and  progress? 
Those  who  knew  him  in  the  quiet  life  he  had 
lived,  or  socially  as  an  apt  teller  of  stories,  or 
professionally  as  a  lawyer  in  country  courts,  or 
even  politically  as  a  debater,  were  amazed,  almost 
dismayed,  to  see  the  nation  placing  upon  him  a 
task  "greater  than  that  which  rested  upon  the 
shoulders  of  Washington."  They  little  realized 
then  Who  had  commissioned  him  to  "go  forward 
with  His  people,"  and  Who  had  prepared  and 
would  sustain  him  in  that  wild  and  fateful  hour, 
and  with  him  hold  the  "common  people  who 
heard  him  gladly." 

There  were  occasions  when  he  was,  seemingly, 
all  things  to  all  men  and  drifted  with  the  currents 
among  widely  dissimilar  classes  of  people;  at  such 
times  his  life  appeared  to  be  almost  submerged  by 
the  local  and  circumstantial;  yet,  with  all,  through 
all,  more  than  all  others  of  his  time,  he  arose 
equal  to  every  opportunity.  Taking  the  reins  of 
power  from  the  trembling  hand  of  a  man  skilled 
in  all  the  arts  of  diplomacy,  to  which  he  himself 
was  a  stranger,  he  measured  up  to  his  task.  When 
the  commander  of  the  army  advised  that  he  should 
say  to  the  seceding  States,  "Wayward  Sisters,  go 
in  peace,"  and  a  great  journalist  joined  with  the 


Lincoln's  Position  in  History     397 

Senator  who  had  proclaimed  an  "irrepressible  con 
flict*'  in  the  cry  of  "peace  at  any  price,"  affirming 
that  a  "Union  to  be  fought  for  was  not  worth 
saving,"  this  quiet,  far-seeing  man,  untrained  in 
statecraft  and  with  a  Quaker's  hatred  of  war,  said 
to  those  who  would  rend  the  Union :  "We  will  not 
go  out,  and  you  shall  not!"  Through  long  years 
of  battle  his  endurance,  his  fertility  of  resources, 
his  magnanimity,  his  patience,  were  sorely  tried, 
and  never  found  wanting.  Never  rash,  never  vin 
dictive,  keeping  a  kind  heart  toward  friend  and 
foe,  he  became  more  firm  under  each  successive 
disaster,  whether  in  legislative  halls  or  in  a  military 
campaign.  Standing  on  the  battle-field  of  Gettys 
burg,  to  dedicate  a  portion  of  the  ground  as  the 
last  resting  place  of  those  who  had  fallen  there, 
his  words  were  few — so  few  that  men  were  then 
disappointed  that  he  said  so  little — but  his  words 
have  become  a  national  Psalm  and  part  of  the 
sacred  writings  of  this  Republic,  never  to  be  erased 
while  men  love  liberty. 

Fourscore  and  seven  years  ago  our  fathers  brought 
forth  upon  this  continent  a  new  nation,  conceived  in 
liberty  and  dedicated  to  the  proposition  that  all  men 
are  created  equal. 

Now  we  are  engaged  in  a  great  civil  war,  testing 
whether  that  nation,  or  any  nation  so  conceived  and 


398  Abraham  Lincoln 

so  dedicated,  can  long  endure.  We  are  met  on  a 
great  battle-field  of  that  war.  We  have  come  to 
dedicate  a  portion  of  that  field  as  a  final  resting  place 
for  those  who  here  gave  their  lives  that  that  nation 
might  live.  It  is  altogether  fitting  and  proper  that 
we  should  do  this. 

But  in  a  larger  sense  we  cannot  dedicate,  we  can 
not  consecrate,  we  cannot  hallow  this  ground.  The 
brave  men,  living  and  dead,  who  struggled  here,  have 
consecrated  it  far  above  our  power  to  add  or  detract. 
The  world  will  little  note  nor  long  remember  what  we 
say  here,  but  it  can  never  forget  what  they  did  here. 

It  is  for  us,  the  living,  rather,  to  be  dedicated  here 
to  the  unfinished  work  which  they  who  fought  here 
have  thus  far  so  nobly  advanced.  It  is  rather  for  us 
to  be  here  dedicated  to  the  great  task  remaining  before 
us;  that  from  these  honoured  dead  we  take  increased 
devotion  to  that  cause  for  which  they  gave  the  last 
full  measure  of  devotion;  that  we  here  highly  resolve 
that  these  dead  shall  not  have  died  in  vain;  that  this 
nation,  under  God,  shall  have  a  new  birth  of  freedom; 
and  that  government  of  the  people,  by  the  people, 
and  for  the  people,  shall  not  perish  from  the  earth. 

Looking  back  across  a  century  of  American 
history,  no  other  personality  towers  so  high  in  the 
admiration  of  mankind,  or  casts  so  benign  a  light 
upon  the  character  and  destiny  of  our  Republic, 
as  that  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  He  was  indeed  the 


Lincoln's  Position  in  History     399 

First  American.  Greater  than  was  comprehended 
by  those  who  walked  with  him,  while  yet  he 
wrote  and  wrought  for  all  humanity,  he  stands 
today,  a  century  after  his  birth,  the  most  unique 
and  unforgetable  figure  in  our  history  and  one 
of  the  mighty  spirits  of  the  race.  He  rendered 
not  only  unto  Caesar  the  things  that  were  Caesar's, 
to  the  States  the  things  that  were  the  States'; 
but  he  stood  above  those  of  his  time  in  waiting 
patiently,  serenely,  inflexibly  to  lead  his  country 
men  to  render  to  God  the  things  His  justice 
required  in  national  life. 

Such  a  man  the  time  and  the  task  demanded, 
and  such  a  man  God  in  His  providence  gave  to  his 
country  and  his  race.  He  was  equal  to  every 
opportunity,  he  accomplished  his  mission,  and 
of  his  fame  there  will  be  no  end.  7 


400  Abraham  Lincoln 


Pass  on,  thou  hast  overcome ! 

Your  sorrows,  O  people,  are  his  peace!  Your  bells 
and  bands  and  muffled  drums  sound  triumph  in  his 
ear. 

Pass  on,  thou  victor! 

Four  years  ago,  O  Illinois,  we  took  from  you  an 
untried  man, — and  from  the  people;  we  return  him  to 
you  a  mighty  conqueror.  Not  thine  any  more,  but 
the  nation's;  not  ours,  but  the  world's. 

Give  him  place,  ye  prairies ! 

Ye  winds  that  move  over  the  mighty  places  of  the 
West,  chant  his  requiem!  Ye  people,  behold  a 
martyr  whose  blood,  as  so  many  articulate  words, 
pleads  for  fidelity ,  for  law,  for  liberty ! 

HENRY  WARD  BEECHER. 


INDEX 


"Abolitionist,"  shouts  of,  208 

Advice  to  voter,  28 

After  1850,  233;  slavery  a 
national  issue,  233;  solution 
for  new  territories,  233 

Allen,  Dr.  John,  73;  personal 
influence,  75;  character,  75; 
Sunday  patients,  76;  those 
financially  embarrassed,  76; 
elder  in  church,  77;  with 
saddle-bags  and  gig,  77 ;  lard 
and  bacon,  78;  anti-slavery 
principles,  78;  temperance, 
78;  Yankee  "faculty,"  81 

Allen,  Colonel  Robert,  162 

American,  the  First,  350,  354, 

387,  391,  399 

Anti-Nebraska  State  Legisla 
ture,  183 

Appalling  summer  of  1865, 
386 

Approachableness,  134 

Armstrong  murder  trial,  22; 
court  scene,  22;  buttermilk, 
22 

Arnold,  Isaac  N.,  359,  372 

Artists  in  difficulties,  335; 
composite  reply  of  many, 
335;  facial  appearance,  335; 
crowning  strength,  336;  need 
to  get  nearer,  336;  an  open 
mind,  336;  personality  for 
artists  to  reveal,  336,  337; 
reward  awaiting  artist,  336; 
genius  and  technic,  341 

Ashmun,  Mr.,  367 

Associations  and  comradeships, 
130,  131 

26 


Author:  qualifications,  v.,  vi.; 
reproduces  atmosphere  and 
environment,  vi. ;  oppor 
tunity  and  temperament, 
vi. ;  student  in  law  office,  vii. ; 
renders  real  service,  xii.; 
example,  xii. 

Autograph,  132,  133 


B 


Bailhache,  188 

Baker,  Edward  L.,  188 

Bancroft,  Mr.,  260 

Banfield,  Edith  Colby,  quota 
tion  from,  330 

Barney,  Hiram,  251 

Bateman,  Dr.  Newton,  literary 
associate,  123-125,  129,  130; 
quoted,  226;  in  discussions 
with  Lincoln,  378 

Beecher,  Henry  Ward,  quota 
tion  from,  400 

Berry,  John,  preacher,  78; 
father  of  Lincoln's  partner, 
78;  raid  on  grog-shop,  80; 
Lincoln's  appeal  to  jury,  80 

Black  crow  story,  289 

Blackstone  volumes  rescued 
from  rubbish,  "devoured," 
100 

Book  of  abiding  value,  viii.; 
presents  living  Lincoln,  xii. 

Boston  merchant,  1 89 

Boulder-rock  marks  grave  of 
Ann  Rutledge,  57 

Brainerd,  Cephas,  and  Chas.  C. 
Nott  prepare  appendix,  259; 
make  reference  notes,  260 

Bryant,  Wm.  Cullen,  249 


401 


402 


Index 


Bryce,     James,     on     Lincoln 
addresses,  232 


Calhoun's,  John,  deputy  sur 
veyor,  101 

Calhoun,  J.  C.,  State  rights 
doctrine,  263 

Campaign  of  1856,  206;  cam 
paign  canard,  270 

Carpenter's,  F.  B.,  quotation 
from  The  Inner  Life  of 
Lincoln,  266 

Cartwright,  Peter,  270;  at 
dinner  party,  270,  274; 
defeat,  274;  visits  East, 
274;  at  Rankin  home,  274; 
account  of  dinner  party, 
275-283;  Methodist-Demo 
crat,  283;  autobiography, 
284;  in  conversation  with 
Henry  B.  Rankin,  284;  in 
conversation  with  Mrs. 
Arminda  Rankin,  285-288; 
yielded  to  false  assertion, 
322;  made  mistake,  327 

Cemetery  at  Petersburg,  111., 
56 

Chandler,  Dr.  Charles,  37; 
"squatter,"  38;  generous 
offer,  39;  Mrs.  Chandler, 
41;  repaid  McCaulley,  43; 
entered  another  forty,  43 

Character,  mental,  139 

Character-building,  influence 
of  associates,  102 

Charge  of  infidelity,  269 

Chatterton,  172 

Chenery  House,  366 

Clary's  Grove  boys,  100 

Clay,  Henry,  364 

Codgal's,  Isaac,  letter  to  B.  F. 
Irwin,  309,  310 

Columbus,  392-394 

Comments  and  corrections  on 
life-mask  article,  370;  valu 
able  contribution,  370;  value 
to  artists  and  sculptors,  370; 
bony  formation  and  facial 
outlines,  370;  correction  on 


Cooper  Institute  speech 
preparation,  371,  377,  378; 
expression  of  eyes,  371,  372; 
attitude  in  Chicago  court 
room,  372-374;  on  height, 
375;  on  attire,  375,  376 

Companionships,  130,  131 

Concentration,  mental  power 
of,  143 

Conkling,  Jas.  C.,  letter  to, 
128;  character  and  person 
ality,  128 

Convention  delegates  return, 
194 

Cooper  Institute  speech :  prepa 
ration,  delivery,  estimate, 
378 

D 

Davis,  Jefferson,  approval  of, 
276 

Departure  from  Springfield,  145 

Dicey,  Edward,  English  his 
torian,  385;  quotation  from, 
386 

Dickey,  Judge,  235 

Discussion  of  two  issues  by 
Lincoln  and  Herndon,  234, 

235 
Dix,  360 

Douglas,  Stephen  A.,  prepara 
tion  for  debates  with,  142; 
met  by  one  of  ability,  240; 
debate  mentioned  244,  245; 
in  senatorial  campaign,  273; 
reference  to  Lincoln,  273; 
in  public  or  private,  274; 
in  Volk's  article,  355~358, 
360;  height,  360,  375 


E 


Edwards,  B.  F.,  175 

Edwards,  Mrs.  Ninian,  157 

Edward's  Grove,  357 

Eggleston's  story,  22 

Eliot,  Chas.  W.,  251 

Elkin,  Rev.  David,  320;  funeral 

of     Lincoln's     mother — her 

Bible,  320 


Index 


403 


Ellsworth,  Colonel,  370 

Emerson's,  Ralph  Waldo,  tri 
bute  to  Lincoln,  1 6 

Engle,  William,  10 

English,  39;  becoming  settler, 
39;  neighbour  tells  specula 
tor's  plans,  40;  land  shark, 
41;  stirrups  for  shorter  legs, 
42 

Enterprise,  The  Springfield, 
a  cruel  aid,  237 


Farewell  address,  223 

Father  of  Waters,  valley  of, 

.395 
Fillmore,  Millard,  and  young 

voter,  27-29;  "Good  Man" 

in    canvass,    28;    President, 

181 
First  American,  350,  354,  387, 

391,  399 

First  settlers  of  Salem,  62 
First  Sunday-school,  78 
Fleury,  Mrs.  Anna  M.,  88 
Francis,     Simeon,     editor     of 

State  Journal,  182 
Francis,    Mrs.    Simeon,     169; 

invited  Lincoln  to  meet  Miss 

Todd,  169 
Fremont    campaign    of    1856, 

27;    campaign    banner    of, 

207 


Geniality,  134 

Gettysburg  speech,  397,  398 

Gilder,  Richard  Watson,  352 

"God's  side,"  30 

Goodell,  Mr.,  famous  anti- 
slavery  man,  260 

Graham,  Menter,  Lincoln's 
tutor,  65;  text-books  from 
Cooperstown,  65;  "Hard 
shell  Baptist,"  78;  intro 
duced  to  Calhoun,  101; 
letter  to  B.  F.  Irwin,  305- 

307 
Grant,  U.  S.,  360 


Greeley,  Horace,  249,  250 
Greene,  Bowling,  farmhouse, 
49;  location,  49;  association 
with  Lincoln,  49;  entry  of 
farm  tracts  in  1829  and  1831, 
49;  Mrs.  Greene's  spread, 
52;  Lincoln  at  funeral,  53- 
55;  granddaughter,  53;  ill 
ness  and  death,  53;  Justice 
of  Peace,  53;  Masonic  fra 
ternity,  53;  first  Mason  to 
die,  53 »  chaplain,  tyler 
regalia,  53 ;  account  given  by 
Greene  and  Menter  Graham, 
54;  graves  of  family,  56, 
57;  Lincoln's  rest  cure,  82; 
memories  of,  82,  83,  88 
Greene,  Graham,  Hill,  Short, 
and  Godbey  families,  88 


H 


Harnett,  Jonathan,  statement 
of,  310,  311 

Harper,  James,  270;  gives 
dinner  party,  274;  senior 
member  of  firm,  274 

Hay,  John,  Lincoln's  secre 
tary,  247 

Height,  of  Lincoln — of  Judge 
Douglas,  360,  375 

Helm,  Mrs.  Emily  Todd,  state 
ment  of,  167,  1 68;  quoted, 
1 86,  187;  paragraphs  by, 
197,  199 

Herndon's  stables,  42 

Herndon,  Wm.  H.,  contrasting 
with  Lincoln,  vii.;  daughter 
of,  88;  publications  of  joint 
authorship,  89;  office  life  of 
Lincoln  and  Herndon,  89; 
temperament,  89;  use  of  mor 
phine,  views,  theories,  etc., 
90;  letter  to,  from  Henry 
B.  Rankin,  91-95;  law  part 
ner,  111-153;  characteristics 
contrasted,  in,  141;  first 
met,  112;  education,  113;  at 
Illinois  College,  113-117; 
anti-slavery  speech ,  115; 
breach  with  father,  117; 


404 


Index 


Herndon,  Wm.  H. — Cont'd. 
read  law  and  admitted  to 
bar,  118;  Lincoln  proposed 
law  partnership,  118;  a 
great  reader,  119;  literary 
tastes,  119-123,  129;  auto 
graph,  i33-f34;  without 
political  ambition,  135;  in 
fluence  of  anti-slavery  views, 
140;  severe  stroke  of  Lin 
coln's  death,  146;  financial 
reverses,  147;  ambition  to 
write  Lincoln's  life,  147- 
149;  quit  law  practice,  150; 
attitude  toward  Mrs.  Lincoln 
162;  compliments,  162;  on 
Lincoln's  health,  175;  speaks 
in  Menard  Co.,  206;  con 
verses  with  Henry  B.  Ran- 
kin  on  farewell  address, 
227;  favours  speech,  239; 
in  discussions  with  Lincoln, 
244,  378;  supplied  aboli 
tion  and  free-soil  literature, 
262;  lecture  by,  297;  Hern- 
don-Weik  Life  of  Lincoln, 
317;  quotation  from,  338 
Hildreth,  Mr.,  260 
Hill,  Samuel,  270;  burning  of 
MS.,  270,  289,  290-294; 
merchant,  289,  290;  sus 
ceptibility  to  charms  of 
youth,  296;  why  never  ex 
plained,  297 
Historic  cemetery,  57 
Hoyne,  Thos.,  359,  372 
Hugo's,  Victor,  address  men 
tioned,  158-160 


Illinois  College,  50;  Herndon 
attended,  113-117;  Hern- 
don's  anti-slavery  speech  at, 
114 

Illustrations,  notes  on,  xv. 
Impending  Crisis,  Helper,  240 
Impending  shadows,  386 
Influence,  of  Herndon's  anti- 
slavery    views,     140;    over 
Herndon,  141 


Introduction,  Newton,  iii.-xii. 

Irrepressible  Conflict,  Seward, 
240 

Irwin,  B.  P.,  article  in  State 
Journal — "Lincoln's  Reli 
gious  Belief,"  297;  never 
contradicted,  298;  respected 
by  Lincoln  and  Herndon, 
298;  his  article  and  letters 
from  Menter  Graham,  Thos. 
Mostiller,  Isaac  Codgal,  and 
statement  of  Jonathan  Har- 
nett,  299-312 

Irwin,  Robert,  congratulates 
Lincoln,  190 


JacqueFS,  Colonel,  and  Lin 
coln,  326;  pastor  of  church, 
328 

Jayne,  Dr.  Gershom,  father  of 
Dr.  Wm.  Jayne,  67;  tutor 
ing  Rogers  brothers,  67 

Jayne,  Dr.  William,  182 

Joy,  James  F.,  359,  372 


K 

Kansas-Nebraska 
effect,  234 


bill,      its 


Lamon's  Life  of  Lincoln,  317 
Landon  House,  Lincoln  entered, 

355 

Last  weeks  in  Springfield,  382 
Law,  Lincoln  began  to  study, 

101 

Law  office,  last  day  in,  145 

Letter  to  Jas.  C.  Conkling, 
128 

Letters,  from  First  Assistant 
Postmaster-General,  64,  65 

Lexington,  Kentucky,  home  of 
Miss  Mary  Todd,  157 

Lincoln  literature,  voluminous 
yet  incomplete,  v. ;  fails  to 
fully  interpret,  v.;  literary 
power  or  insight  lacking,  v.; 


Index 


405 


Lincoln  literature — Confd. 
composite  conception,  v.; 
humour,  ix.;  great  thinker, 
ix.;  studious  habits,  ix.; 
style  of  speech,  ix.,  x.;  com 
pared  by  Bryce,  x. ;  law  office 
3;  friends  who  "were  a 
help,"  5;  too  near  to  get 
true  perspective,  5;  future 
historian  to  write  true  story, 
6;  met  Ann  Rutledge,  7; 
important  influences,  8 ; 
slurs  and  caricatures,  8;  in 
physical  prime,  9;  best- 
looking  lawyer,  9;  politics, 
9;  side-splitting  stories,  10; 
first  appeal  as  candidate  for 
legislature,  10;  strong  char 
acteristics,  10;  fine  conver 
sationalist,  10;  introduced  to 
Calhoun  and  Stuart,  n; 
studies  with  Graham,  n; 
entertaining,  12;  association 
with  common  people,  12; 
direct  manner  of  speech,  13; 
tribute  by  Ralph  Waldo 
Emerson,  16;  easy  manner, 
17;  stump  speaking,  17, 
no  haste  to  begin  speech,  18; 
' '  paper-canned ' '  thoughts ; 
18;  quality  of  mind,  22; 
tribute  by  Edwin  Markham, 
26;  advice  to  voter,  28; 
power  of  stating  moral  and 
practical  issues,  29;  eccen 
tricities,  30;  nameless  grace 
of  deportment,  31,  56;  per 
plexing  husband,  31 ;  subcon- 
sciousness,  32 ;  regret  of  un 
timely  death,  32 ;  nomination 
at  Chicago,  34;  swapped 
horses,  37;  meeting  emerg 
ency,  37;  knew  countrymen 
better  than  others  of  admin 
istration,  44;  humanly  qual 
ity,  44,  45;  lived  close  to 
people,  45 ;  early  association, 
49;  met  Yates,  50;  nominated 
for  President,  50;  hundred 
thousand  ratification,  50 ;  pro 
cession  at  residence,  51;  on 


cellar  door  with  Blackstone's 
Commentaries,  51;  Lincoln 
and  Yates  exchange  hand 
shaking,  51 ;  partner  Stephen 
T.  Logan,  53;  Greene's  fun 
eral,  54;  showed  no  embar 
rassment,  55;  no  boorish  or 
awkward  manners, 56;  nerves 
in  control,  56;  master  of 
self — of  others,  56;  grave  of 
first  love,  58;  life  in  period 
from  1818  to  1850,  61; 
women  nearer  than  friend 
ship — his  wife,  61;  return 
from  Blackhawk  War,  65; 
tutored  by  Menter  Graham, 
65;  gentlemanly  attire,  65; 
access  to  two  post  offices, 
66;  two  mail  routes,  66; 
St.  Louis  and  New  Orleans 
papers,  66;  comradeship  be 
tween  Lincoln  and  Rogers 
brothers,  67 ;  visits  at  Colonel 
Rogers's  home,  67;  as  nurse 
at  Rutledge  home,  73;  chills 
and  fever,  74 ;  Peruvian  bark, 
boneset  tea,  etc.,  74;  no 
caskets  kept,  74;  influenced 
by  Ann  Rutledge's  death, 
75;  rest-cure  at  the  Bowl 
ing  Greene  home,  82 ;"  insan 
ity  "  charge  disproved,  84, 85, 
86;  last  parting  words,  85; 
but  one  superior  in  history, 
86;  Tolstoi  quoted,  86;  reads 
law,  87;  physical  strength, 
87;  temptations,  87;  mixing 
with  frontier  people,  87; 
own  individuality,  87; 
sought  better  class,  87; 
character  no  stain,  88 ;  appli 
cation  to  business  and  books, 
88;  invited  by  Major  Stuart 
to  become  partner,  88 ;  office 
life  of  Lincoln  and  Herndon, 
88;  note  for  law  lecture,  98; 
at  Salem,  99;  Freshman  years 
in  University  of  Life,  99; 
physical  master,  100;  per 
sonal  instructions  of  Menter 
Graham,  100;  rescued  Black- 


406 


Index 


Lincoln  literature — Confd. 
stone  volumes  from  rubbish 
and  devoured,  100;  letter  to 
Jas.  C.  Conkling,  128;  literary 
readings  and  tastes,  119, 121, 
123,  124,  129-130,  137;  Walt 
Whitman's  poems,  124-127; 
4 '  Lincoln  and  Herndon  " 
law  sign  left  during  presi 
dency,  145,  146;  writers, 
163;  reported  marriage  date, 
164-166;  "attack  of  hypo" 
— broken  engagement,  166; 
visits  Louisville,  166,  167; 
return — writes  letter,  168; 
chief  concern  in  life,  169; 
her  senior — studied  Miss 
Todd — wedding  ring,  172; 
sincere  man — moods — ab 
sence — false  charge,  174; 
gossip,  174,  1 75;  at  office  into 
small  hours — Salem  grocer 
habit — split  kindling,  175; 
health,  175,  176;  "browsing 
around,"  176;  incident  at 
Executive  Mansion,  177- 
179;  in  domestic  matters 
yielded,  180;  name  rein 
stated  in  State  Journal — 
resigns  seat  in  Legislature — • 
becomes  candidate  for  sena 
tor  —  Nebraska  -  Democrat 
elected,  183;  nominated  for 
President,  187;  carried  news 
of  nomination  to  Mrs.  Lin 
coln,  187;  dispatches  re 
ceived  at  Journal  office,  188; 
"Lincoln  nominated,"  189; 
congratulations,  189;  nomi 
nee  rigid,  189;  thought  of 
wife  first,  190;  private  dis 
patch,  191 ;  speech  at  Peters 
burg,  205;  prominent  in 
organizing  and  promoting 
new  party,  206;  speaker 
thoroughly  advertised,  206; 
famous  linen  duster,  207; 
reception  at  Petersburg, 
207;  exciting  scene,  207, 
208,  209;  mastery  over  tur 
bulent  audience,  210;  speech 


at  Bloomington,  211;  stage- 
ride  to  Petersburg,  211; 
estimate  of  Petersburg 
crowd,  212;  no  report  of 
Petersburg  speech  in  local 
papers,  212;  extracts  from 
Petersburg  speech,  213,  214, 
215,  216;  tribute  to  Lincoln 
by  David  Swing,  218;  another 
notable  address,  219;  last 
three  months  in  Springfield, 
219,  220,  221;  departure 
from  Springfield  and  fare 
well  address,  221,  222,  223; 
effect  on  crowd,  223,  224; 
brief  mention  Gettysburg 
speech,  224;  trip  to  Washing 
ton,  225;  reporting  of  two 
speeches,  225,  226;  manner 
of  delivery,  226;  quotation 
from  James  Bryce,  232; 
aroused  by  Kansas-Ne 
braska  bill,  234;  leader  of  a 
new  era,  234;  did  not  "lose 
his  head"  in  crisis,  234; 
discussion  of  two  issues  by 
Lincoln  and  Herndon,  234, 
235;  preparation  and  effect 
of  delivery  of  speech  on  "a 
house  divided  against  it 
self,"  235-239;  delivered 
speech  in  State  House — at 
his  best — published  North 
and  South,  239;  thinker  and 
speaker,  239;  ability  to 
meet  Douglas,  240;  pro 
phecies  of  campaign  disaster, 
240;  first  political  introduc 
tion  to  national  public, 
240;  ripened  public  senti 
ment,  240;  tribute  by  Horace 
White,  242 ;  lost  senatorship, 
243;  won  larger  victory, 
243;  tries  lecture  field,  243; 
invitation  to  lecture  in 
Cooper  Institute,  243;  inter 
views  and  discussions  with 
Herndon,  244;  preparation 
for  debate,  244;  searches 
Congressional  Globe  and 
Southern  papers,  245;  con- 


Index 


407 


Lincoln  literature — Confd. 
fidence  to  meet  Douglas, 
245;  preparation  of  Cooper 
Institute  speech,  246 ;  seldom 
repeated,  247;  estimate  of 
New  York  audience,  247; 
"a  Western  stump  orator," 
249 ;  appreciation  by  Eastern 
Republicans,  255 ;  letter 
from  Nott,  256,  257;  letter 
to  Nott,  257-259;  placid 
temperament,  262;  associa 
tion  with  Stuart  and  Logan, 
262 ;  Henry  Clay  Whig,  262 ; 
studied  the  whole  country, 
262;  knew  Border  State 
men,  263;  first  inaugural, 
263;  friend  of  Southern 
people,  264;  came  to  Salem, 
268;  Salem's  religious  in 
fluences — infidelity  charge, 
269-271;  view-points — faith, 
etc.,  271;  fundamental  be 
liefs — truly  religious,  272; 
prominent  figure — record 
scrutinized,  273;  largest 
majority  of  Whig  candidate, 
274;  criticized  by  New  York 
men,  276;  views  against 
formalities,  287;  religious 
belief  at  Salem,  288;  popu 
lar  with  boys  and  girls,  290; 
story  of  infidel  attack  re 
surrected  in  biographies,  293 ; 
the  soul  of  honour,  294; 
spoke  freely  of  religion,  313; 
religious  features  in  every 
day  settings,  313 ;  no  attempt 
to  harmonize  with  author's 
personal  belief,  314;  author's 
testimony  and  that  of 
family,  314;  private  epi 
sodes  dealing  with  religion, 
315;  mother's  death,  315; 
impressions — mother-love-y 
inspiration  —  companionship 
— influence,  316;  speaks  of 
mother  in  author's  pres 
ence,  316;  and  sister,  320; 
mother  and  Bible  stories, 
321 ;  Lincoln  and  Cartwright, 


32 1 ;  false  assertion,  322;  on 
religious  subjects,  323-326; 
Lincolnian  sentences,  327; 
countenance,  physical  build, 
features,  33 1 ;  personality,  in 
delivery  of  two  speeches, 
332 ;  all  photographs  unsatis 
factory,  332;  distinct  in 
character,  332;  inner  life, 
333;  subject  for  cartoonists, 
333;  a  poor  "sitter,"  334; 
descriptive  writings  mis 
leading,  334;  personality  for 
artists  to  reveal,  336,  337; 
his  masterpieces,  336;  statue 
or  portrait,  337;  appearance 
in  full  activity,  338;  despair 
of  artists,  339 ;  found  himself, 
339;  charming  gentleness, 
339»  340;  shadows,  340,  341; 
composite  picture — pen  por 
traiture  of,  342-346;  help  of 
Infinite  One,  344;  "who 
controls  mine  and  all  des 
tinies,"  347;  platted  town, 
347;  first  met  hostility,  348; 
1 '  a  prophet ' ' — Presidential 
leader,  349;  on  scroll  of 
history — First  American — 
"belonged  to  the  Ages," 
350;  capacity  not  antici 
pated — personality  preserved 
by  Volk,  354;  at  Landon 
House — orders  supper,  355; 
replying  to  Douglas,  356; 
crossed  stubble-field,  357; 
appears  on  spirited  horse, 
357;  speaks  in  old  State 
House,  357;  attitude  as 
described  by  Volk,  358; 
height,  360,  375;  sits  to 
sculptor,  360-365 ;  last 
sitting,  364;  nomination  for 
President,  365 ;  formally  noti 
fied,  367;  appointment  with 
sculptor,  368;  casts  of  face 
and  hands  cross  sea,  369; 
misquoted  by  Volk,  377; 
discussions  with  Herndon 
and  Bateman,  378;  moods — 
power  of  concentration,  381, 


408 


Index 


Lincoln  literature, — ConVd. 
382;  on  occasion  of  historic 
importance,  382,  383;  inner 
solitude,  384-386;  relaxation, 
386;  no  trace  of  self-con 
sciousness,  387;  the  more 
habitual  mood,  387;  brood 
ing  and  fruitful  hours,  387; 
First  American,  391;  took 
the  helm  of  state,  395; 
mission  accomplished,  395- 
399;  to  "go  forward  with 
His  people,"  396;  all  things 
to  all  men,  396;  equal  to 
every  opportunity,  396;  fer 
tility  of  resources,  397; 
speech  at  Gettysburg,  397, 
398;  personality  casts  light, 
398;  unforgetable  figure  in 
history,  399 

Lincoln,  Mary  Todd,  misunder 
stood,  x.;  vindicated,  xi.; 
corrections  due,  8;  literary 
taste,  122;  stimulated  poli 
tical  ambition,  122,  136; 
ambition  for  husband  mis 
construed,  122;  debt  of 
gratitude  due,  136;  fondness 
for  Hugo's  writings,  158; 
dissatisfied  with  translation, 
1 59 ;  personal  appearance, 
1 60 ;  like  and  unlike  husband 
— of  unconventional  type, 
1 60;  sensitive,  160;  impul 
sive — sarcastic — witty,  etc., 
161 ;  loved  children — refined, 
161;  attitude  toward  Hern- 
don — waltz  with  Herndon — 
compliment  and  retort,  162; 
foes,  163;  attacks  of  writers, 
163;  character,  163;  influ 
ence,  164;  inspiration,  164; 
in  tomb  of  husband,  164; 
odium,  164;  reported  mar 
riage  date,  164-166;  broken 
engagement,  166;  opposition 
of  relatives,  166;  belle  of 
city,  167;  temporary  es 
trangement,  167;  trip  to 
Jacksonville,  168;  at  Francis 
home  —  determines,  1 69 ; 


known  intimately  —  age  — 
admirers  —  proposal  —  biog 
raphers — lady  of  culture, 
170;  her  senior,  171;  wifely 
and  matronly,  172;  wedding 
ring,  172;  loving  and  loyal 
wife,  173;  solace  in  solitude, 

'  173;  skill  and  tact,  174; 
animating  cause  of  absence, 
174;  gossip,  174,  175;  hus 
band's  health  —  clothing  — 
food,  175,  176;  well-ordered 
home,  177;  enforces  regular 
ity  with  President,  177; 
incident  at  Executive  Man 
sion,  177-179;  motive,  179; 
watchful  care,  179;  reached 
her  limits,  180;  injustice, 
181;  cruelty  of  insinuation, 
1 8 1 ;  shaped  course  in  public 
affairs,  181,  182;  "refused 
her  consent,"  182;  forecast 
of  election  right — anti-Ne 
braska  State  Legislature,  1 83 ; 
and  political  movements, 
184;  girlhood  dream,  184; 
aggressively  ambitious,  184; 
influence  given  unstintingly, 
184;  created  life-long 
enemies,  184;  important  part 
through  campaign  of  Lin 
coln  and  Douglas,  184; 
managing  partner,  185;  effi 
ciency  in  home  and  financial 
affairs,  185;  forecasts  politi 
cal  events,  etc.,  185;  Mrs. 
Lincoln's  married  life  as 
seen  by  Mrs.  Helm,  186,  187; 
news  from  Lincoln  of  nomina 
tion,  187;  "to  the  little 
woman  over  on  Eighth 
Street,"  187;  receives  pri 
vate  dispatch  from  Lincoln, 
191;  radiant  with  joy,  192; 
extracts  from  Better,  195, 
196,  197;  on  Lincoln's  reli 
gion,  313;  quoted,  3341 
meets  Volk,  366;  attention 
to  husband's  wardrobe  and 
food,  376,  377 

Lincoln,  Tad,  197 


Index 


409 


Lincoln,  town  of,  356 

Littlefield,  J.  H.,  student,  187 

Logan,  Judge,  182;  Logan  and 
Lincoln, elected,  183;  Logan's 
popularity  and  influence, 
183;  Judge  Stephen  T.  in 
Chicago,  194;  Logan  and 
Rankin,  195;  character,  105, 
1 06 

"Love  is  Eternal,"  172 

Me 

McCaulley,  William,  41 

McMurty,  364 

McNeil  (later  McNamar),  68; 
engagement  to  Ann  Rut- 
ledge,  69;  personality,  69; 
marriage,  69;  partner  of 
Samuel  Hill,  70;  sentimental 
moods,  70;  a  just  man,  84; 
has  part  in  burning  of  MS. 
story,  290-294 

M 

Malaria  in  1865,  83 

Malone,     Walter,     quotation 

from,  380 

Manner  as  a  reader,  127 
Markham's,  Edwin,  tribute  to 

Lincoln,  26;  quotation  from, 

204 
Marriage,    effect   on    reading, 

121 

Martelli,  Mrs.,  158 

Master-men,  392 

Masters'  Edgar  Lee,  tribute  to 
Ann  Rutledge,  60;  quota 
tion  from,  no 

Matteson,  Governor  J.  A., 
195,  356 

Mental  character,  depth,  and 
poise,  139 

Mental  concentration,  power 
of,  143 

Moods — first,    second,    third, 

381-387 

Mostiller's,  Thos.,  letter  to 
B.  F.  Irwin,  307,  308 


Mother  of  Lincoln,  315,  316; 
religion,  320,  321,  325 


N 


Nance,  Hon.  A.  G.,  294; 
nephew  of  Mrs.  Hill,  295; 
letter  to  Henry  B.  Rankin, 
295,  296 

Newton,  Joseph  Fort,  Intro 
duction,  iii.-xii.;  quotation 
from,  152,  390 

New  York  audience,  estimate 
of,  247 

Nott,  Chas.  C.,  writes  account, 
248-254;  letter  to  Lincoln, 
256,  257;  letter  from  Lin 
coln,  257-259;  Nott  and 
Brainerd  prepare  appendix, 
259 


Office  students— read  to,  IOI    ' 
Opening    of    great    campaign, 

193;      return     of     Chicago 

Convention  delegates,  194 
Ossoli,    Margaret    Fuller,    33; 

letter  to  friend,  33;   "eyes 

read  heavens,"  34 
Owen,  Miss,  377 


Pantier,  James,  clothing,  19; 
occupation,  20;  peculiarities, 

2O,  21 

Parker,  Theodore,  quotation 
from,  in  Gettysburg  speech, 
140 

Peck,  Ebenezer,  364 

Petersburg,  striking  charac 
ters,  10,  n ;  representative 
pioneers,  n;  early  settlers, 
12;  common  people,  12; 
cemetery,  56;  exciting  scene 
at,  207,  208,  209;  measured 
— platted,  347;  people's  side, 
348;  to  fields  of  conflict, 
348;  "Union  between  the 


410 


Index 


Petersburg—  Cont'd. 

States,"  348;  in  grand  re 
view — Commander-in-Chief, 
349 

Photographs  and  portraits,  331 

Poise,  mental,  139 

Portraits  and  statues  unsatis 
factory,  viii. 

Preparation  for  debates  with 
Douglas,  142 

President,  in  official  life,  177; 
continued  examination,  178; 
habits,  179 

Prince,  Dr. ,  of  Jacksonville,  76 


Q 


Quotation,  from  Henry  C. 
Whitney,  156;  Edith  Colby 
Banfield,  330;  the  Greek, 
340;  Richard  Watson  Gilder, 
352;  Walter  Malone,  380; 
Joseph  Fort  Newton,  390; 
Henry  Ward  Beecher,  400 


Rankin,  Amberry  A.,  father  of 
author,  3,  195 

Rankin,  Mrs.  Arminda,  mother 
of  author,  in  conversation 
with  Peter  Cartwright,  285- 
288;  on  burning  of  MS.,  290- 
293;  compares  two  lives  of 
Lincoln,  317;  remarkable 
memory,  317;  converses  with 
Lincoln,  322;  hears  Lincoln 
on  religious  subjects,  323- 
326;  account  correct,  328 

Rankin,  Henry  B.,  first  meet 
ings  with  Lincoln,  3;  mes 
senger  boy  during  court 
terms,  3 ;  close  relations  with 
Lincoln's  law  office,  3;  re 
collections  in  seventy-ninth 
year,  4;  fragmentary,  4; 
unstudied  record  of  persons, 
events,  4;  informally  told, 
4;  keep  out  personal  pro 
noun,  5;  mother  gives  in 
formation,  62 ;  impersonal 


manner,  89;  corresponds 
with  Herndon,  89;  reads 
lecture  on  Lincoln  and  Ann 
Rutledge,  91 ;  letter  to  Hern 
don,  91-95;  finds  Hugo 
address,  158;  calls  at  Lincoln 
home,  158;  procures  French 
copy,  159;  saw  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Lincoln  in  many  situations, 
171,  172;  memory  of  Mrs. 
Lincoln,  174;  present  when 
news  of  nomination  is  re 
ceived,  187;  thrills  of  May 
1 8,  1860,  193;  tribute,  199- 
201;  in  conversation  with 
Herndon,  210;  remarks  on 
farewell  address,  226-230; 
in  conversation  with  Peter 
Cartwright,  284;  his  letter 
from  Nance,  295,  296;  met 
Irwin  in  law  office,  298;  in 
law  office,  381;  observer  of 
Lincoln's  moods,  381,  382 
Reader,  manner  as,  127 
Readings,  aside  from  law,  119- 
121,  123;  effect  of  marriage 
on,  121 ;  Walt  Whitman's 
poems,  124-127 
Reconstruction,  32 
Reid,  Rev.  John  A.,  199 
Religion,  xi. 

Republican  headquarters,  27 
Republican  Convention,  men 
tion  of,  256 

Review  of  great  men  in  Ameri 
can  history,  39i~399 
Richardson,  General  Wm.  A., 

364 

Rogers,  Arminda,  tutors  Ann 
Rutledge,  68 

Rogers,  Colonel  Matthew,  62; 
in  War  of  1812,  62;  of  New 
York  militia,  62;  resigned 
1818,  62;  removal  to  Illinois, 
62;  farm  near  Cooperstown, 
N.  Y.,  63;  flat  boat  at  Olean 
Point,  63;  postmaster  of 
Rogers  post  office,  63; 
Rogers  brothers  tutored  by 
Dr.  Jayne,  67;  Rogers  and 
Rutledge  families,  68 ;  friend- 


Index 


411 


Rogers,  Col.  Matthew — Cont'd. 
ship  between  Ann  Rutledge 
and  Arminda  Rogers,  68 
Rosette,  Lewis,  187 
Ross,  Rev.  Dr.,  214,  215 
Rutledge,  Ann,  meets  Lincoln, 
7;  prepares  for  Jacksonville 
Academy,  7;  Ann  Rutledge 's 
grave — Oak  Ridge — mem 
orial  at  Washington,  57; 
untimely  death,  58;  grave  of 
Lincoln's  first  love,  58; 
Rutledge  and  Rogers  fami 
lies,  68;  engagement  to 
McNamar,  69;  Lincoln's  at 
tention,  69;  Miss  Rutledge's 
death,  69,  74,  75;  Ann  Rut- 
ledge  lecture  by  Herndon, 
70;  friends  favoured  suit, 
71;  indignation  toward 
McNamar,  71;  consented  to 
Lincoln's  suit,  71 ;  summer  of 
1835,  72;  no  regret,  72; 
"bilious  fever"  prevalent, 
73;  crude  treatment,  73; 
Rutledge  family  stricken, 
73 ;  delirium  of  last  days,  73 ; 
no  caskets  kept,  74;  in 
fluence  of  Miss  Rutledge's 
death  upon  Lincoln,  75; 
last  parting  words,  85;  in 
formation  from,  290 


Sailor,  the,  and  the  eagle,  392 
Salem,  mill  and  dam,  49; 
memories,  83;  malaria,  83; 
religion,  267;  religion  of 
citizen  much  discussed,  267; 
early  settlers,  267 ;  departure 
of  its  glory,  268;  author's 
reminiscences,  268,  269;  in 
fluences,  opinions,  271; 
Lincoln's  religious  belief, 
288,  289 

Sandridge  rowdy  roysterers,  100 
"Sangamo  country,"  63 
Seward,   Irrepressible    Conflict 
by,  240;  as  candidate,  251; 
chair  occupied  by,  360 


Shawneetown,  63 

"Six  miles  and  barefooted,"  65 

Smith,  C.  M.,  175,  382 

Southern  Literary  Messenger, 
158 

Southern  papers  read  and  sub 
scribed  for,  137,  138,  139 

Speech  at  Petersburg,  213-216; 
at  Bloomington,  mention  of, 
2 1 1 ;  at  Springfield — farewell 
address,  223;  at  Springfield, 
"a  house  divided  against 
itself,"  mention  of,  239;  in 
Cooper  Institute  mentioned, 
246;  at  Gettysburg,  397,  398 

Speed,  Joshua,  166;  dry-goods 
store,  roomed  over,  112, 
140 

Springfield,  places  sacred  to 
Lincoln,  xii.;  land-office,  43; 
entry  of  June  2,  1832,  43; 
departure  from,  145;  men 
tion  of,  357,  367,  373 

Stevenson,  Dr.,  209 

Stuart,  John  T.,  brief  mention, 
100,  175,  181;  met,  101; 
formed  partnership  with, 
102-106;  education  and 
manners,  102;  sagacity,  103; 
character,  105-106 

Students,  read  to,  101 

Study  of  law,  began,  101 

Study  of  photographs  and  por 
traits,  353 

Surveying — began  study,  101 

Swing,  David,  tribute  to 
Lincoln,  218 


Talk  with  author's  mother,  xi. 

Three  periods  and  three  per 
sonalities,  392 

Todd,  Miss  Mary,  visited 
sister,  157;  age,  157;  im 
pression,  157;  life  in  Spring 
field,  157;  attention  from 
young  men,  157;  her  home, 
157;  school  life,  158;  know 
ledge  of  French,  158;  Presi 
dent's  wife,  181 


412 


Index 


To  "go  forward  with  his 
people,  "396 

Tremont  House,  362 

Trial  of  Armstrong,  22 ;  tribute 
to  Ann  Rutledge  by  Edgar 
Lee  Masters,  60;  text-books 
from  Cooperstown,  65 

Tribute  by  Edgar  Lee  Masters, 
no 

Trumbull,  Lyman  elected,  183; 
mentioned  by  Logan,  195 


Unconditional  Union  Meeting, 
letter  read  at,  128 


Vacation  of  Illinois  College,  50 
Volk,  Leonard,  353;  article 
mentioned,  353 ;  contains 
merit,  353;  debt  of  gratitude 
due,  354;  lapses  in  memory, 
354;  preserves  personality, 
354;  article  by,  355~37o;  first 
meeting  with  Lincoln,  355, 
356;  formally  presented,  356; 
asks  Lincoln  to  sit  for  bust, 
357;  winter  in  Washington, 
358;  return  to  Chicago,  358; 
describes  attitude  of  Lincoln, 
358;  makes  cast  of  Lincoln, 
362;  visits  Lincoln  home, 
366;  introduced  to  Mrs. 
Lincoln,  366;  casts  Lincoln's 
hands,  368;  bony  formation 
and  facial  outlines,  370; 
made  statements  inadvert 
ently,  371;  most  important 
error,  371;  statement  on 
mannerisms  corrected,  372- 
374;  on  attire  corrected,  375, 
376 
Voter,  advice  to,  28 


w 

Wallace,  Dr.,  175 
War  secretary  quoted,  350 
Washburn,  Hon.  E.  B.,  235 
Washington,    345,    392,    394, 

395 

Washingtonian  Society,  78 
White's,  Horace,  tribute,  242, 

249 

Whitman's,   Walt,    "O     Cap 
tain!'^ 

"Wide  Awakes,"  192 
Wolf  Creek  contingent,  100 
Wright,  Washington,  237;  sa 
tire  ended,  239 


Yates,  Richard,  50;  vacation, 
50;  first  met  Lincoln,  50; 
related  in  speech,  50;  speech 
in  1860,  50;  nominated  for 
Governor  of  Illinois,  50; 
hundred  thousand  partici 
pated,  50;  first  and  last 
meeting  with  Lincoln,  50; 
"Wide  Awake  escort,"  51; 
"shaking  hands  with  next 
President,  next  Governor 
shaking  hands  with  Lincoln," 
52;  request  of  President, 
328 

Young  man  riding  horse, 
42 

Young  Men's  Republican 
Union,  255;  their  preface  to 
Cooper  Institute  address, 
260-262 


Zouaves,  370 


Jl  Selection  from  the 
Catalogue  of 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 


Complete   Catalogues  sent 
on  application 


Abraham  Lincoln 

The  People's  Leader  in  the  Struggle  for 
National  Existence 

By 

George  Haven  Putnam,  UttD., 

Late  Brevet-Major,  1 76th  Regt  N.  Y.  S.  Vols. 
72°.    $1.25 

The  monograph  presents  a  study  of  the  development  of 
Lincoln's  character  and  of  the  growth  of  his  powers  from 
boyhood  to  his  work  at  the  Bar,  of  his  work  as  a  leader  in 
the  political  contests  that  preceded  the  war  for  the  Union, 
and  of  his  final  service  to  the  country  as  War  President 
and  as  Commander-in-Chief  of  its  forces.  Special  atten 
tion  is  given  to  Lincoln's  relations  with  his  Cabinet  and  with 
the  successive  Army  commanders.  The  volume  includes 
a  reprint  of  the  famous  speech  given  by  Lincoln  at  the 
Cooper  Institute  hi  February,  1860,  to  the  text  of  which 
speech  have  been  added  an  introduction  by  Charles  C.  Nott, 
late  Chief  Justice  of  the  Court  of  Claims,  and  a  series  of 
invaluable  historic  annotations  by  Judge  Nott  and  by 
Cephas  Brainerd  of  the  New  York  Bar.  This  speech  is 
now  recognized  as  constituting  one  of  the  historic  docu 
ments  of  the  Republic. 


New  York         G.   P.   Putnam's   Sons  London 


The  Everyday  Life  of 
Abraham  Lincoln 

By 
Francis  F.  Browne 

Late  editor  of  The  Dial 
Compiler  of  "  Bugle  Echoes,"  "  Golden  poems,"  etc. 

72°.     With  Portraits.    $1.75 

The  original  edition  of  this  book  was  pub 
lished  about  twenty  years  after  Lincoln's 
death,  and  has  continued  to  attract  attention 
among  the  growing  circle  of  Lincoln's  ad 
mirers. 

This  book  brings  Lincoln  the  man,  not 
Lincoln  the  tradition,  very  near  to  us.  It 
embodies  the  reminiscences  of  over  five  hun 
dred  contemporaries  and  friends  of  Lincoln — 
reminiscences  which  were  gathered  largely 
at  first  hand. 

G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 

New  York  London 


Lincoln  and  Episodes 
of  the  Civil  War 


Waiiam  E.  Doster 

Late  Brev.  Brig.-General  U.  S.  V.,  Provost-Marshal 
of  Washington 


12°.     $1.50 

The  book  occupies  a  distinctive  place  in 
the  bibliography  of  Civil  War  Literature  for, 
though  the  events  of  the  author's  distinguished 
career  are  traced  with  the  help  of  a  diary 
which  he  had  kept,  an  important  part  of  the 
volume  is  devoted  to  an  account  of  the  trials, 
experience,  and  observations  of  the  Provost- 
Marshal  of  Washington,  an  office  which  the 
author  filled  during  1862-3.  The  author  like 
wise  had  the  distinction  of  being  one  of  the 
lawyers  for  the  defense  in  the  famous  con 
spiracy  trials  of  1865,  an  account  which,  written 
with  knowledge  from  the  inside,  closes  the 
book.  Many  matters  are  considered  that  have 
been  neglected  in  other  records  of  the  Civil 
War.  The  initial  chapter  of  the  volume  con 
sists  of  an  address  which  the  author  delivered 
some  years  ago  before  Lehigh  University. 

New  York         G.    P.    Putnam's    Sons         London 


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